


Viktor's Moving Castle

by BlueTrekSkates



Series: Viktor's Moving Castle [1]
Category: Howl's Moving Castle - All Media Types, Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Additional Tags to Be Added, Alternate Universe - Howl's Moving Castle Fusion, Angst, Anxiety, Bombs, Howl's Moving Castle AU, M/M, Magic, No Smut, Strangers to Lovers, Transformation, War, Yuri is a smol bean, age change, blood tw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-28
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-02-08 04:32:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 44,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12856809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueTrekSkates/pseuds/BlueTrekSkates
Summary: Yuuri's life was boring.He spent every day at his dead end job working at his deceased father's hat shop. With his sister studying magic in the wastes and his mother off traveling, it is up to him to hold down his family's legacy.But one day that all changed when he met a handsome stranger who swept him off of his feet, quite literally.Burdened with a curse that will doom him to an early death and a mystery that is gripping his home, Yuuri fights for his love and his life.One thing is for certain; he will never be the same.(You do not have to see the movie to read this fic!)





	1. No One

**Author's Note:**

> This work was inspired by Taffydesu's beautiful work!
> 
> You can find her at taffydesu.tumblr.com Go look at her stuff. It's bomb.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Through the small window in his workshop Yuuri could see his world. Old buildings and new piled up next to each other in a way that couldn’t possibly be planned. What started as a small village steadily grew into the bustling town it was today. Tight alleyways littered between buildings allowed for quick getaways to those who knew how to use them. Long winding train tracks cut through the town creating a cacophony of noise and industry. The squares bustled with pedestrians and trolleys; with cars and carriages.

 

The town was alive and evolving.

 

Meanwhile Yuuri was stuck.

 

If he were to look out at most any time of the day, he would see the train’s smoke fill his window and block his view of the town below. Not that he ever paid his view any mind. No view meant that he never needed to look up from his work.  He was normally too engrossed in it to bother to look up and enjoy the often blocked scenery.

 

The telltale rattle of his window and the whining of the train’s whistle signalled its passing as he worked.

 

He was putting the finishing touches on the hat he was working on when he heard the other shop workers bustle outside his private workshop. 

 

“Woah! There it is! Look look everyone! Before he get’s away!” He heard Leo shout to the other workers.

 

“Wait, is that what I think it is?” One of the newer girls asked.

 

“No. It can’t be,” mumbled Emil.

 

“Yes it is! It’s Viktor’s castle!” shouted Leo. He had always been obsessed with Viktor’s castle. Sometimes Yuuri had to wonder why he decided to be a hatmaker instead of a wizard since he was so interested in magic. 

 

But Yuuri of all people knew that not just anyone could practice magic. His sister was the only magic user in their family. That was normally how it was. Those who were proficient in magic were few and far between, even within a single family tree. 

 

“But how does it move like that? It looks like nothing is holding it together,” asked Guang Hong.

 

“Isn’t he an evil wizard?” Another girl overlapped.

 

At hearing this question, more of the hatmakers started to shout over one another.“Yeah! I heard he will eat the heart of any beautiful person he sees.”

 

“Apparently that boy Seung-Gil Lee from New Haven had his heart eaten by him!” Yuuri couldn’t help but roll his eyes at that one. True, some magic could require the use of a heart, but rarely was it actually  _ ingested _ by the practitioner themselves. 

 

“I guess that mean’s you’re safe then, Leo!”

 

“Knock it off guys! Aww man. There it goes.” Leo looked crestfallen to see the contraption disappear. 

 

Normally Yuuri would have slammed his door shut at all of this commotion, but being that it was the end of the day he knew that he would be alone soon enough. If he slammed the door now it would only draw attention to him and they would try to drag him out to get drinks with them after work. It wasn’t that he didn’t  _ like _ to hang out with them, but whenever they go out to the bar the others will always end up hooking up with other patrons while he was left nursing his drink by himself. He didn’t need anyone else rubbing in the fact that he was undesirable. And besides, they were always so loud and they never  _ really _ wanted his company.

 

Okay, so maybe he didn’t like to hang out with them. 

 

Leo decided just then to break into his thoughts. “Hey Yuuri! Did you see Viktor’s castle?”

 

The direct address surprised him so that his hand slipped and he stabbed his finger with his needle. “Ah, shoot! Oh, um, no I didn’t. Sorry.”

 

Ever since Yuuri started working at the hat shop, Viktor’s castle would be the subject of gossip every day. Yuuri didn’t really understand why. It was just a hodgepodge machine held together by magic. It was unsightly and the rumors that surrounded it were simply ridiculous. He never understood the fascination with Viktor. Maybe it was the mystery. Maybe it was the magic. It always seemed these people wanted what they can’t have.

 

They would always ask stupid questions.  _ What kept the castle together? _ Magic. _ He eats the hearts of people? _ Obviously not.  _ Would he ever teach me how to do magic? _ No. You are a nobody who works at a hat shop.  _ I wish he would sweep me away to his castle! That would be like a dream!  _ That would never happen. See the previous answer.

 

_ Honestly,  _ he thought to himself.  _ It’s like no one here has ever met a witch or wizard in their lives. Sure they aren’t that common, but still, they’re just people. _

 

“Yuuri?” asked Guang Hong.

 

“Hmm? Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.” Yuuri looked up from his work to address the group standing outside his door.

 

“I asked if you wanted to join us at the pub? Shift’s done for the day! Come on, put down that hat and let loose a little.” Leo peered in over Guang Hong’s shoulder.

 

“Oh. No thank you. I’m just going to finish up here, but feel free to go out and have a good time.”

 

“Well, if you’re sure.” And with that they all trickled out of the workshop until it was just Yuuri and his hats. 

 

Yuuri sighed and looked out the window. Sometimes he wished he could get swept up in a magical adventure. Maybe meet this mysterious Viktor while walking down the street. Honestly, he would give anything to be somebody, just once. But he had a responsibility to his family. His sister was studying witchcraft out past the wastes, so he agreed stay and take care of their family’s shop. He had accepted long ago that he would end up being a spinster in this hat shop. It wasn’t like he was ever going to be desirable. He was just Yuuri. Just no one.

 

Nobody’s didn’t get a happy ending. 

 

Looking back at his hat he realized that his self imposed funk had drained him of any inspiration. Writing off the day as a lost cause, he put the hat back on the form, stood and brushed off his hands on his apron. He stripped of the work garment slowly and picked up his own hat before heading out of the shop. He hadn’t seen Phichit in a while. Who better to get him out of his depressive cycle than his old roommate and best friend.

 

As he left the shop he saw the mirror that clients used to model their new hats. He couldn’t help but try and model his in the same fashion. He fluffed out his ponytail playfully.  _ Maybe if I look confident and happy, people will think I’m confident and happy. _ With one more turn in the mirror he scoffed and shoved his hat more firmly onto his head.  _ Who am I kidding. Now I just look like a  _ _ delusional _ _ mousey nobody. _

 

After he locked the shop up he turned to the busy street. He heard the planes zoom above his head. In the distance, he could hear a marching band play as a military parade went on. The streets were busier than usual at this time of day due to the visiting soldiers. Yuuri suppressed a sigh as he marched over the bridge and through the billowing train smoke.  _ Thank goodness for alleyways.  _ He thought as he squeezed through the crowd.

 

Once he was free of the people and safely in the alley he took a steadying breath, straightened his hat, and marched on. He heard mumblings in corners about the useless war. Apparently the neighboring kingdom though they had kidnapped their prince. Even though it wasn’t true, their country was thrown into what had become the most useless and destructive war in their history.  _ As long as it stays as far away from me as possible I couldn’t care less. I just want these overly horny soldiers out of our town already. _

 

This was the first time he had taken this particular route to get to his friend’s work. The anxiety of not knowing his way, along with the feeling that he would be ambushed by a soldier at any minute was enough to set all of his nerves on edge. 

 

Almost as if they had read his thought, Yuuri looked up from his paper as he walked face first into the chest of a soldier. “What’s wrong, little guy. You lost or something?”

 

“N-n-no. I’m okay, thanks.” He looked up to see a man with a god-awful mustache looking down at him. 

 

“You look a little thirsty. Maybe we should take the little mouse out for a cup of tea,” commented the man as he loomed over Yuuri’s steadily shrinking form.

 

“No thank you. My friend is expecting me.” Yuuri attempted to walk around him only to be blocked off by his other friend.

 

“Ha! Fred look, your mustache scares off all the pretty boys,” the blonde man said.

 

“So?” replied Fred. “I like them even better when they’re scared.”

 

_ Great, _ thought Yuuri.  _ I’m going to be raped by a couple of creepy soldiers in an alleyway. Come on Katsuki, get a grip and run!  _ “N-no! Let me go! Please!” He was struggling to get out of their grip when he heard it.

 

“Ah, there you are sweetheart. Sorry I’m late. I was looking everywhere for you.” He felt another, stronger arm wrap around his shoulders. 

 

“Hey, hey! We’re busy here,” the first man straightened up to face the newcomer fully.

 

He looked up to see his rescuer. He was the most beautiful man he had ever seen. He had beautiful white blonde hair that cascaded down his back. It was ethereal; almost like moonlight had been captured in his hair. He wore sparkling earrings and a necklace that caught the dim light of the alley. On anyone else they might have been seen as gaudy, but he made it work.  His pink and blue argyle coat hung off of his shoulders without actually being worn; almost as if it was held on by magic.

 

The mysterious man leered at the soldiers with his cerulean blue eyes. “Are you really? It looked to me like the two of you were just leaving.” They held a hint of mischief as he raised his free hand. With a flick of his index finger the soldier's’ posture became stick straight. Another flick had them pivoting where they stood. With a final flick, the mystery man had them marching side by side in the opposite direction.

 

Yuuri stared wide eyed ahead of himself. His day had gone from boring to insane in all of five minutes. He didn’t quite know how to handle what was happening. Here he was in the arms of a stranger who seemed to know magic to some degree. He knew he should probably be frightened, but something about this stranger’s strong warm arm wrapped around him made him feel safe. 

 

It was then that magic-mystery-man decided to break into his thoughts and lean into his face. “Sorry about them, they really aren’t all that bad. Where to? I shall be your escort this evening.” 

 

It took Yuuri a beat too long to form an actual sentence. Was all speaking that musical? How could such beautifully sparkling hair be real? Were eyes normally that blue? He stuttered out his reply before he could get too lost in them. “I-I was going to the Bakery down Richards Way. B-b-but I can get there myself, thanks. I don’t want to trouble you any further.” 

 

The man grabbed his shoulder tighter and replied, “No, it’s my pleasure! Here. Just stay close to me.” And with that they were off.

 

Mystery man started guiding him faster and faster as they wound around corners in a way that made Yuuri think this man had no clue where they were at all. Just as Yuuri looked up at him to express his concerns, the man whispered in his ear, “Don’t get alarmed, but I’m being followed. Just act normal.”

 

_ It’s not as if I have a choice at this point,  _ he thought to himself. Turning around, Yuuri saw the most disturbing sight he had ever seen. Figures that seemed to be made of living black tar were rushing out of every corner and opening towards them. The more they converged, the faster they seemed to move. “Sorry, looks like you’re involved,” the mystery man muttered under his breath. Realizing that this man was probably the only thing keeping him alive right now, Yuuri reached to the man with his free hand. Right as he grabbed the man’s hand they shot off down the alley. “This way,” he instructed as they took a tight corner.They were going so fast it felt like they were flying. In fact, Yuuri was pretty sure they were because his feet weren’t touching the ground. It was all he could do to hold on to this mad man for dear life.

 

“Oh no,” Yuuri breathed upon seeing they were reaching a dead end. They were trapped. Yuuri would die here at the end of this alley with a handsome stranger and no one would ever know what became of him. He would die in obscurity. 

 

“Hold on,” he ordered. Yuuri cringed and braced himself for impact when he felt the arm on his shoulder slip to his waist and hoist him up. He felt them stop moving, but never felt the impact of the murderous blob that pursued them.

 

“It’s alright,” a gentle voice said. “You can open your eyes. They can’t get us up here.”

 

“Wha-AHHHHH!” Yuuri’s question turned into a shout as he opened his eyes and looked down. They were flying. In the middle of the city. Yuuri, a non magic wielding person, was flying.

 

At his shout the man began to laugh. “Ahahaha! Yuuri, you’re fine! I’ve got you. Now, just extend your legs.” Yuuri complied, albeit slowly. “There you go. And now just start walking.”

 

Just like that, they were flying. “See? Not so hard is it?” The mystery man complimented him as they made their progress across the sky. He laughed softly as they continued their dance. “You are a natural.” Yuuri preened at the praise he received from this handsome stranger.

 

Yuuri never wondered what it would be like to walk on clouds, but he imagined this would probably be the best explanation. As he walked hand in hand with this beautiful stranger, he looked down at the city below. It seemed the parade was ending and now couples were dancing to the music the band played. He felt laughter bubble up in his chest like it hadn’t in a long time. He was living a fairytale.

 

All too soon they reached the bakery. The man gently lowered him down on the open balcony of the shop. Balancing on the railing he kissed Yuuri’s hand before releasing it. “I’m going to go draw them off. Wait in here for a bit before you go back out on the streets.” 

 

“Okay,” Yuuri replied softly, still a little shocked at everything that had just happened.

 

“That’s my boy.” With a jump backwards and a wave of his arm, he disappeared. 

 

Yuuri let out a shaky breath he didn’t know he was holding as he sunk back to the wall behind him. Slowly sliding down the wall, he sat with his knees drawn against his chest. Out of the corner of his eye he saw stuttered movement until the movement came into his direct line of sight. It was one of the accountants from the shop.

 

“Sir, are you alright? Who was that man?”

 

Yuuri looked back out of the balcony as if he would be able to see him this time. “I’m not sure. Could you please go get Phichit for me? Tell him Yuuri is here to see him.”

 

“Absolutely, sir. Right away.” Yuuri kept looking out of the window until he heard the footsteps recede. Once he was sure he was alone, he cradled his head in his hands as he waited for his best friend to come.

 

His afternoon had transformed from his dull normal to a fantastical little adventure so fast that it made him dizzy. As he closed his eyes he couldn't stop but imagine his beautiful hair. His sweet voice. His warm, strong arms. His magical laugh.

 

After about ten minutes of his mental checking of all the man’s beautiful features, he heard running up the stairs that could only be his best friend. “YUURI!” he shouted down the hall. “Oh my god! Are you alright? What happened? They said you flew in from the window! You better start explaining.”   
  


“So that really did just happen… It wasn’t a dream,” Yuuri breathed, still dazed. “Is there somewhere more private we can talk?” he asked. A shiver shot up his spine as he recalled the faceless tar monsters from earlier. “I just feel so… watched out here.”

 

“Sure thing, this way.”  Not for the first time that afternoon, Yuuri found himself being led to a mystery location. Phichit had found them a secluded storeroom where they could talk without the fear of prying eyes or ears.

 

“Alright. Spill, Katsuki. What the hell happened?” Phichit stood with his hands on his hips in front of where Yuuri had situated himself on a box. He took a calming breath before starting to explain what happened that afternoon.

 

Throughout his story Phichit had sat down next to him in shock. Yuuri made him hold all of his questions and responses for after the story. He was worried if he stopped at all he would lose his nerve and finally convince himself that none of it was real.

 

“So, he just flew you through the balcony and, poof, disappeared?” Phichit reiterated just to be sure he heard everything correct.

 

Yuuri fiddled with his hat nervously. “Yes. The entire thing was just unbelievable. I don’t really know what to do with it.” He looked over to his best friend to gauge his reaction.  What he didn’t expect was to see a slow mischievous grin grow on his face. “What’s so funny? I could have died!”

 

“Yuuri!” exclaimed Phichit, his face now fully sporting his grin. “Don’t you get it? That was totally Viktor!” 

 

He dropped his hat in shock. “WHAT? No. That’s impossible.”

 

“Come on, think about it Yuuri. Handsome stranger magically sweeps you off your feet. This is like the start of a fairy tale!”

 

“No. There is no way that was him. I mean, Viktor doesn’t really go into the city, now does he? He sticks to the wastes.”

 

Phichit wasn’t buying it. “It was totally him. But Yuuri, you need to be more careful. He could have eaten your heart.”

 

“Phichit, you don’t honestly believe he eats hearts do you? You know as well as I do that’s a ridiculous rumor. And besides, if he were to hypothetically eat hearts, he would only eat the hearts of attractive people. He would never eat the heart of a mousy guy like me.” Yuuri looked down at his hands as they anxiously shook while they were clenched together. He hated pulling the attention to himself. While he loved Phichit like a brother, Phi would never take the attention off of him.

 

“Yuuri. Yo-” But before he could finish scolding him, one of the bakers poked their head in and interrupted. “Hey Phichit! We need you back in the shop. It’s a mad house down there.”

 

“On my way down! Just give me one more minute.” He stood up and walked Yuuri to the door. “You know I have several choice words I would like to say to you about your self esteem, but I have to get back to work. You’re too hard on yourself. I love you and we will continue this conversation later.”

 

“Sure sure Phi. But you know me; I’m always busy with work at the hat shop.”

 

Phichit groaned loudly as he led the dark haired man to the back door. “Oh come on, Yuuri! When will you quit? That store is draining your soul a little more every day!”

 

“You know I can’t do that, Phi. With Mari studying past the wastes, I’m the only one to run my family’s shop. I have a responsibility. It’s what my father would have wanted.” Absolutely done with the conversation, Yuuri all but stormed off into the crowd. 

 

He could barely hear Phichit over the din of the bustling crowd as he shouted, “Yuuri stop! Do something for yourself for once, would you?”

 

By the time Yuuri made it back to the shop it was almost dark. He made sure to lock the door behind him as he always did before moving towards the house portion of the shop. Just as he was about to turn off the lamp he heard the latch on the door click behind him. He quickly swiveled around to see who had a key to the the shop. “W-who’s there?”

 

He was answered by a large looming figure entering the shop. She was a statuesque woman draped in a variety of black furs and feathers. She had a large black hat atop her head to match her large frame. Yuuri was a man fully grown, but he felt dwarfed by this woman.

 

In a deep, contralto voice, she sounded her displeasure at being in the shop. “What a tacky shop. Filled with the tackiest hats I’ve ever seen.” 

 

_ Alright that’s it, _ he thought to himself.  _ I am done with today, including you lady. How dare you walk into my shop, after hours, and criticize my artistry.  _ “Sorry ma’am. We’re closed. I could have sworn I locked that door behind me.”

 

She leered down at him down her enormous nose. “These hats might be tacky, but you are by far the tackiest thing in it.”

 

That was the last straw. Yuuri puffed up his chest and marched over to the open door. “Like I said. We’re closed. The door is over here ma’am.”

 

“That’s no way to treat The Witch of the Wastes. Aren’t you the plucky one.” Almost as if her name alone gave the room a magical charge, wind blew the door shut right out of Yuuri’s grip.

 

He felt all of the color leave his face as he looked at the woman. “The Witch of the Wastes?” He didn’t have much time to adjust to to the fact that one of the world’s most notorious and wicked witches had cornered him in his shop. In one last ditch attempt to get away he made a run for the back of the shop. His attempt was in vain, for as soon as he started to sprint, his shoe caught on the rug and he was sprawled on the floor. 

 

The next thing he knew he felt an almost wet chill pass through his entire body as the witch turned transparent and passed through him. After she was done, she sauntered towards the door. He could barely hear the witch over the blood that was rushing in his ears as she gave him some final words of warning. “The best part of that spell is you can’t tell anyone about it. Give my regards to Viktor.” 

 

That was the last thing he heard before everything went black.


	2. Unconventional Beginnings

When Yuuri awoke he hurt everywhere. He had no clue how long he had been out, but if the darkness outside was any indication, it must have only been a few hours at most. If the soreness was any indication, it had definitely been a few hours. With a grunt he struggled to his feet. He was put slightly off guard when the  grunt sounded huskier than normal, but he figured it must have had something to do with the witch wind that was whipping through earlier.

  


As he struggled to his feet he gripped his knees for leverage as he pushed himself up. But when he looked at his hands, they weren’t his own. These hands were old and wrinkled. He blinked a few times, figuring it was only a trick of the light. There was no way that these were his hands.  He made his way over to the mirror to make sure nothing else was amiss. But what he saw shook him to his core.

  


“Ahh!” He gave a startled scream as he looked in the mirror. The face that looked back was definitely his, but older. It was almost as if he looked like his father; no, his grandfather. His glasses sat upon his face, balanced on a larger nose. His hair was wiry and ashy grey. His skin sagged as if it had seen seven decades rather than just two.

  


“Okay, Yuuri,” he consoled to himself. “You just have to stay calm.” As he spoke, he felt the familiar feeling of panic rise in his throat. He started to pace in and out of the back way of the shop and into the courtyard to try  and calm himself. “Just stay calm. Stay calm.” He kept repeating his new mantra. He paced back into the shop to double check that it wasn’t just a trick of the mirror. Sure enough, the same wizened face looked back once more. He gave a final shocked squeak as he fully retreated from the shop.

  


“This is insane,” he rambled as he went to his room. “First I am almost assaulted. Then supposedly the infamous Viktor literally sweeps me off of my feet as we are chased by tar monsters. Then I fly. If not to make this whole day worse the freaking Witch of the Wastes comes to my shop with some unknown vendetta and decides it’s a great idea to turn me into an old man! You know what. I’ve had enough for one day,” he finished with a shout, slamming the door to his bedroom with a bit more force than he originally intended. Maybe if I just go to bed I’ll wake up and this all would have been a dream.” 

  


Once he had rambled out all of his frustrations, he settled down in his bed and tried not to think about what tomorrow would bring. 

  


\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  


Yuuri woke up feeling every stiff joint in his body. He didn’t even need to look at the mirror to know that he was still old. As he bundled further under his blankets he tried to think of what to do about his situation. He couldn’t just go to work like normal. People would either have no clue who he was, or wonder how the hell he got himself in that situation. He couldn’t very well stay in his room for the rest of his suddenly shortened life. One thing was for sure; he was under some sort of spell. 

  


First things first; he needed to get it reversed as soon as possible.

  


He could go to The Witch of the Wastes and demand to be changed back, but that seemed terrifying and all but impossible. How could he ever hope to find a witch who didn’t want to be found?  _ Wait! _ He thought to himself.  _ My sister is a witch! I can just go and have her change me back. _ With a new sense of vigor, he got up and dressed for his journey. 

  


When he went through his clothes to see what would best suit him for his journey, he looked in the mirror to see his reflection. “Hey. This won’t be so bad. You’re not in too bad of shape. You’ve always been called an old soul. And besides, now your clothes finally suit you.” 

  


As he was bundling some food he squirreled away into a satchel he heard a knock at his door followed by his mother’s worried voice. “Yuuri, dear? Are you alright? Everyone says you haven’t left your room all day.”

  


He froze in panic as he thought of what to do. He couldn’t have his mother barge in and see him like this. “Uh, I have a nasty cold,” he croaked with his new old man voice. “Don’t come in. I don’t want you to catch it.”

  


“Oh you poor thing. You’re voice sounds so rough. I’ll go and make you some tea and soup, how does that sound?”

  


“Fine, yes thank you.” And with that he heard her steps retreat.

  


With a now shortened time frame for his escape, he gathered his cape around himself and snuck out of his room and towards their back door. By some miracle no one seemed to spot him. Now all he had to do was get to the edge of town and see if anyone could get him at least part way through the wastes.

  


One of the hardest parts of town to get through in his new old body would be the bridge that was always engulfed in train smoke. As he worked his way across a young man asked if he needed any help to which he replied a polite, “No, I’m fine. Thank you.”  _ What a nice young man _ he thought as he worked his way down the steps. Finally, at the edge of town, he saw a man who was heading with his cart towards the wastes.

  


“You want to go through the wastes? Isn’t that a bit dangerous for someone of your age?” The gruff man worried.

  


“I’ll be fine. I’m meeting my sister and she lives on the outskirts of the wastes.”

  


“Listen. I live on the edge of the wastes. Close to town. I can get you as far as that, but from there, you’ll be on your own I’m afraid.”

  


Yuuri nodded as he climbed on the back of the cart. “Even that little bit will help. Thank you.”

  


“Well, if you’re sure,” he grumbled as he got into the driver’s seat of the cart.

  


Yuuri looked at all of the faces in the town that he barely recognized.  _ I wonder if anyone will miss a nobody like me. Maybe I could just stay out there. No one would notice. Except Phichit.  _ He paused in his thoughts as he felt a tear roll down his cheek.  _ God. Phi. He’s going to be so worried. _ “Don’t worry Phi,” he whispered. “You’ll be better off without me. I bet you won’t even notice I’m gone.”

  


Once they arrived at the man’s farm it was a little past midday. “Thank you again. Are you sure there is nothing I can do to repay you?”

  


The man grasped his hand firmly in a shake. “Nah, gramps. Just try and take care of yourself out there, okay? And you can always come back and stay with us if it’s too much.”

  


With one last look at the town Yuuri turned and began his journey through the hills of the wastes; his progress slow. He wasn’t moving as fast as he used to because of how his body betrayed him. After what seemed like hours of walking he took another look over his shoulder only to see that the town had barely shrunk from his view.

  


“Ugh. I’m never going to make it there at this rate. What I need is a cane. I wonder if there is a big stick somewhere that I could use?” Almost as if summoned by magic, he saw a large stick poking out of a nearby bush. “Ah! Perfect!” 

  


He rushed over to the stick and tried to pull it out, but it wouldn’t budge. “Oh come on. You are really a stubborn branch.” He started to throw his entire back into it. With each push and pull he felt the branch loosen a bit more until finally it sprang out of the bush. However, instead of it just being a normal branch, a scarecrow jumped out.

  


“AHHH!” He fell on his back in fear. The scarecrow stood on its own, even though it wasn’t being propped up by anything. “Oh. It’s just a scarecrow. You scared me there, big guy. How did you get stuck in that bush? And how are you standing on your own like that? No matter. Hmm. It looks like your head is made out of a turnip.” He made a disgusted face at the thought. “I’ve always hated turnips ever since I was a little boy. Oh well, at least you’re right side up now. So long.” 

  


As Yuuri walked away from the scarecrow he heard a steady thumping behind him. Upon a glance he saw the scarecrow following him. “ Go away! Stop following me! There is no need to thank me. You obviously have some sort of spell on you and I’ve had more than enough of witches and their spells. So just go find some field and stand in it!” He received no response from the scarecrow; it only kept following him. As it got closer he could see the  cane draped over its arm. Once he approached fully he dropped the cane from his arm. “Is this for me? Thank you this is exactly what I needed.”

  


Just then, he had a mischievous idea “Do you want to really help me? Maybe you could hop along and find me some place to stay for the night?” Turnip head seemed to respond to this new order and hopped ahead of him. “Oh Yuuri, you old devil. It seems you’ve gotten really crafty in your old age.” 

  


Satisfied that he had sent off the cursed scarecrow for good, Yuuri continued on up the hills. However it was getting dark fast and with it came more cold. He felt every gust of wind down through his bones. “This old body is useless. I’m fatter than ever and the wind blows right through me!” Becoming too cold to move on, he decided he would sit for a bit to gather some strength. As he sat there he noticed flecks flying around him. At first he thought it was just snow, but upon further investigation he discovered it was actually flecks of ash. “Ahh! Someone has a fire going. Maybe there is a cabin near by?”

  


With his soul lightened by the possibility of warmth, Yuuri got up and walked towards the source of the fire. However when he came over the hill, it wasn’t a cabin that he found, but Viktor’s castle. Next to it bounced Turnip with an air of determination. Turnip had found him somewhere to stay alright.

  


“Are you insane! When I asked you to find me some place to stay this is  _ not  _ what I meant! This is Viktor’s castle! I can’t go in there!” Turnip just continued to bounce besides the entrance at the back of the monstrosity. The castle seemed to pause and lower, as if asking if Yuuri wanted to get on. “You know what, what the hell?” He turned to run up to the moving castle, but it kept dodging just out of his reach. “Make up your mind! Either you want me on or you don’t!” Seeming to hear his challenge, the castle scooped him up so he was barely hanging onto the back entrance.

  


He slowly opened the door and felt the warmth emanating from inside. “I think I’m going to go inside. It seems warm in there. Thank you for finding me a place to stay Turnip! You’re alright, even if you are my least favorite vegetable! Take care Turnip Head!” The scarecrow just bounced in place as the castle moved further and further away. Knowing that there was no turning back, Yuuri walked into the castle that was rumored to hold one of the most dangerous wizards of the age.

  


_ Okay Yuuri. You’re old and ugly. There is no way Viktor will want to eat your heart.  _ He steeled himself as he walked up the cracked steps that lead up to the living area of the castle. Looking into the dimly lit room he was shocked by what he saw. The place was a mess. He was surprised there was any space to walk with how much clutter littered the room. Cobwebs decorated the ceiling with nests of bugs trapped within. Books were strewn about with no worry if damage came to them. Cracked and dirty dishes piled on top of what he assumed was a cooking area. “I guess I should have expected it to be this messy with how the outside of the castle looks,” he mumbled as he walked further into the room.

  


His eyes drifted over to the only source of light in the room which was coming from a small lone fire on an open fireplace. In front of the fire stood a lone chair. Feeling the ache of his long trek sink into his bones he rushed towards the chair to seek some sweet relief. He sighed as he sunk into the rickety chair. “Well, one nice thing about getting old is nothing frightens you.”

  


Just as Yuuri was about to drift off to sleep in the chair, a voice emanated from the fire. “Boy I do not envy you, man. That is one nasty curse. Curses are tough you are going to have a very hard time getting rid of that one.”

  


Yuuri gasped and sat up straight. “The fire spoke!”

  


“Let me guess, the curse won’t let you talk about it right?” The fire seemed to grow brighter as it spoke, almost as if it’s own confidence fulled it.

  


“Are you Viktor?”

  


The fire puffed up and adopted a falsely deep voice in response.“No! I’m an incredibly powerful fire demon named Calcifer!” Fire spit out of his mouth as he said his name. Yuuri would have found it terrifying if it wasn’t for everything else that happened to him that day. Now he just found it amusing. “Ah I’m just messin’ I like to do that every once in awhile.” 

  


Yuuri leaned forward in excitement. “A fire demon? Well then you can help me with my curse!”

  


The fire wasn’t going to bend easily though.“Maybe, maybe not. Listen if you can help break the spell that’s on me, I’ll break the spell that’s on you. You got it?”

  


Yuuri squinted his eyes at Calcifer, as if trying to see through his flames. “If you’re a demon, how do I know I can trust you? Do you promise to help me if I help you?”

  


“Ehhh I don’t know man. Demons aren’t too big on promises,” the demon said with a shrug of its flaming arms.

  


Yuuri wasn’t about to bank all of his hopes on a deceitful demon. He needed to get his body back to normal and he wasn’t about to gamble it all on some lying magical force. “Then go find someone else.”

  


“Come on man! You should feel sorry for me! That  _ spell _ keeps me stuck in this castle and Viktor treats me like I’m his slave and burns me up. ‘Ya gotta keep the water hot, the rooms warm, the castle moving.’ You ever try moving a castle? If you can figure out how to break this thing I’m in with VIktor, I can easily break the spell that’s on you.”

  


His ramblings had almost fallen on deaf ears. Yuuri, being so exhausted from his journey that day, started to fade into unconsciousness before promising, “Alright, it’s a deal.”

  


“Man? Hey, dude? DUDE! HEY!” He shouted at the now unconscious man. He attempted to crawl out of his trap in the fireplace. “Let me get, ugh, let me get over there. Oy. Some big help you’re gonna be.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnnnnd here we are. I know I said I was going to wait.... but y'all know me. I can't help myself! I get too excited! The chapter lengths in this story vary a lot, simply because I want them all to have a good flow, so this one is a bit shorter.
> 
> As always, you can find me at my tumblr bluetrekskates.tumblr.com 
> 
> See y'all next time!


	3. A Morning in the Castle

Yuuri woke up to a loud rap on the door.  _ Ugh I must have overslept again. _ He cracked his eyes open to look at his bedroom ceiling. He shot up a bit in shock when he realized he wasn’t at home until he remembered what had happened the night before. Hearing steps sprint down the hall below, he quickly threw his head back again to make a show of sleeping. Maybe if they thought he was asleep, they wouldn’t kick them out. And besides, he didn’t want to deal with the evil wizard Viktor first thing in the morning.

 

“YURI! It’s the Porthaven door,” Calcifer shouted from the fireplace; his voice drawl and bored. Yuuri cracked open his eyes in confusion.  _ Why should I get the door? I’m not even supposed to be here. _ His confusion was quickly corrected when the fire sighed and whispered, “Ugh, not you. Oy this is going to be confusing.”

 

“Yeah yeah. I’ve got it,” replied a surprisingly young voice. Yuuri let out a breath that he didn’t know he was holding. There was no way that Viktor was some young kid. The footsteps stopped a few feet to his right. “Wait. How did he get in here?” He held his breath again. This might just be a kid, but he could still be a threat.

 

Calcifer quickly came to his rescue, bringing the young boy’s attention back to the matter at hand. “Nevermind him just get the damn door!”

 

Yuuri peeped at the boy as he walked towards the door. He was a very short boy with yellow blond hair that stopped at the top of his cloak that he wore. As he walked down the stairs he put up his hood and waved his arms in a strange fashion. Yuuri slowly got out of his chair to snoop on the boy. “Good morning sir,” he greeted the knocker in a fake old voice.

 

“Ah yes, good morning,” replied an actual elderly man. “I’m here for a spell for my boat?”

 

Yuuri did a double take when he looked at the door.  _ Wait, what?  _ He thought as he peered down the stairs.  _ When I came in we were in the wastes. Now we’re in some seaside town? This makes absolutely no sense.  _

 

In the time that it took for Yuuri to ponder the nature of the door, the young boy had pulled a satchel out of his pocket. “Here you go. Just sprinkle a bit of this on your deck and the wind shall favor your sails.” 

 

After a brief farewell the boy closed the door on the old man and turned back to head into the house. Before he could get far however, another knocked on the door.

 

“Still the Porthaven door” 

 

Even though he barely left the door, he turned right back around and answered the door again. “Yes good sir, how can I help you?”

 

An official looking gentleman answered. “Is this the house of the Wizard Jenkins?”

 

“This is, may I take a message for him?”

 

Getting an affirmative answer, the man continued. “Yes. This is a letter from our king summoning him to appear at court. It is his duty to the crown to support our country in this war.”

 

“I will make sure this gets to him. Good day.” Once he closed the door he walked back up the stairs towards where Yuuri was now adding wood to Calcifer’s fire. “What do you think you’re doing here grandpa?”

 

“Calcifer let me in.”

 

Calcifer puffed up indignantly. “I did not! He just wandered in here from the wastes.”

 

“He’s from the wastes?” Yuri put down his hood in shock. “How do we know he’s not a wizard?”

 

“Do you really think I’d let a wizard in here?” There was no time for the boy to answer, for just a second later the bell at the door rang. “Kingsbury door,” declared the fire.

 

Giving a slightly annoyed sigh, he turned back around and put his hood back up. This time Yuuri walked around the side of the rails so he could see what was under the hood. Instead of the young, grumpy face, he saw the face of an old man with a beard that reached down to his toes. Yuuri’s mouth was dropped open as the boy twisted a smaller knob above the door knob before opening the door again. Instead of the seaside town, the door opened to the bustling street of a city. “Good morning.”

 

“Ah yes! Good day! Is this perhaps the residence of the great Wizard Pendragon?” Asked an uptight looking official.

 

The boy grunted in response,“The very same.”

 

The man held a sealed envelope.“I have a letter addressed from our magnificent king calling him to serve in our great army. He is to come to the castle to report for duty as soon as possible.”

 

“Thank you I’ll get it to him,” he said before all but slamming the door shut on the man’s face.

 

“It’s the Porthaven door again.”

 

This time the boy actually shouted. “Aww come on already! I need to eat breakfast sometime today.” Taking a calming breath, he turned back towards the door once more. But this time, they were back at the seaside town. At the door was a small girl who was only a head shorter than the grumpy boy. “Ah hello young lady. What can I do for you.”

 

The girl stuttered as she held out a piece of paper towards the disguised boy.“My mom sent me by to get this spell.”

 

“Oh yes I remember this order. Step inside really quick, would you?” This time he went back up the stairs to retrieve a spell. “Move it gramps. Just be quiet and try not to cause any trouble,” he mumbled towards Yuuri.

 

Ignoring the young boy’s orders, Yuuri headed towards the dirty. He needed to figure out what was going on here. He looked out the window, wondering if he would see a different place, only to see the same old town. Suddenly the little girl interrupted him from his thoughts. “Excuse me, sir? Are you a Wizard too?”

 

He looked down at the little girl with a mischievous glint in his eye. _Might as well have a bit of fun,_ he thought before replying, “Why yes, I’m the _scariest wizard_ of them all!”

 

“Here you go young lady. Have a good day.” Yuuri couldn’t help but follow the girl out. He needed to see if this town was real. When he emerged from the castle he was on the old cobblestone streets of the seaside town of Porthaven. He couldn’t believe his eyes. He turned around to see where he came from. Instead of the rickety castle, he saw the faded storefront of “Wizard Jenkin’s Magical Miracles”. Before he could wander off too far he heard the young boy shout, “Get back in here old man, or you’re gonna lose your nose.” 

 

Figuring it was best to listen to this magical boy instead of risking being stranded, Yuuri went back into the castle. As soon as he was inside, the boy slammed the door. “Honestly, no wonder your face is all nose; you’re so nosey. Also, quit telling lies to our customers.” 

 

Even though it was a low insult, Yuuri couldn’t pay him any mind. “What about you?” He pointed at the boy’s chest. “You’re wearing a disguise.”

 

“I have to. I’m practicing my magic. What’s your excuse?” He stood on the tips of his toes in an attempt to intimidate Yuuri.

 

Yuuri shrugged his shoulders. “I was bored”

 

“Well go find something else to do. You’ll drive everyone away.” And with that he turned his back to Yuuri.

 

The older man turned back to the door and looked at the smaller handle. Upon observing it he noticed it was on a blue dot. When he turned it the dot turned red. Deciding to test his theory he opened the door again to see the bustling streets of Kingsbury. He couldn't help but giggle in childlike wonder. He turned the knob again, this time to a green dot. When he opened the door he was greeted with the foggy morning of the wastes. 

 

Just as he went to see what the next color did he was interrupted by the boy. “Come on old man, stop messing with that. You’ll just break it.”

 

He looked up to see the small blonde boy leaning under the railing. “This is a magic house isn’t it? Tell me, where does the black one lead?”

 

Yuri sighed in exasperation. “Only Viktor knows that.” Seeming to lose interest, the boy started to dig through the table that was piled with food. “Ugh. I’m starved,” he groaned as he pulled out a large hunk of bread and a wedge of cheese.

 

“Don’t you want some eggs and bacon? You can’t have just plain cheese and bread for a meal. You’re a growing boy,” Yuuri couldn’t help but tutt at the boy.

 

“Well, yeah,” he sighed. “But Viktor’s gone. Only he can cook on Calcifer.”

 

“Don’t worry, I can cook.” Yuuri turned to grab a large cast iron skillet. 

 

“It doesn’t matter if you can cook, dummy. The only one he will listen to is Viktor.” Still, the boy couldn’t help but give a sly grin at the old man’s efforts. It was as if he couldn’t wait for the fire to spit back up in his face.

 

Calcifer promptly crossed his fiery arms in front of himself.“ Yeah that’s right old man. I’m not taking any orders from you.” He blew a raspberry out at Yuuri to rudely punctuate his statement.

 

Leaning over to the floor he picked up his fallen hat and placed it on his sleeping chair. “Oh there’s my hat. That’s better” he said, ignoring the fire. He rolled up his sleeves, excited to start cooking. He was starving after only having a bit of cheese and bread the day before. “Alright Calcifer. Let’s get cooking.”

 

The fire flared up angrily. “I DON’T COOK! I’M A SCARY AND POWERFUL FIRE DEMON! BLEEEEEE,” he extended his tongue to ward off the descending pan.

 

“How would you like it if I poured a bucket of cold water on you?” Putting his hand up to his mouth, he whispered the next statement only for Calcifer to hear. “Unless you want me to tell Viktor about our bargain?”

 

Calcifer looked at him in shock, as if he couldn’t comprehend Yuuri’s nerve. “Oh, you stupid man. I NEVER should have let you in here!” As he loudly protested, Yuuri shoved the cast iron skillet on top of the fire.

 

“There we go. That’s a good fire.” Yuuri reached into the basket that held the eggs and bacon and began to place slices carefully on the fire.  _ This could be perfect. I can just say I’ll be the housekeeper. Viktor is sure to let me stay. _

 

“Here’s another curse for you.” Calcifer grumbled at Yuuri as he glared up at the offending skillet. “May all your bacon burn.”

 

As Yuuri slowly continued his work, he heard Yuuri mumble behind him. “Woah. He’s actually doing it. Calcifer is actually listening to him.”

 

“Here, Yuri was it?” The boy nodded with a glare in his eye. “Yuri, I think I’m in the mood for some tea, do you have a kettle?” Yuri perked up at the order with a devious grin on his face. Yuuri tried not to think too hard as to why the boy looked as if he was up to something.

 

At seeing the blonde boy dig through the pile of kitchen ware to get to the kettle, Calcifer turned his protests towards Yuri. “Wait what? Oh no no no no! Don’t help him! Don’t get the kettle! Who’s side are you on anyway?”

 

Just as Yuri had unearthed the kettle there was a click at the door. Yuuri’s head snapped up to look at the source of the noise. The color wheel had finally turned to the black portal. He couldn’t help but hold his breath as the door opened. His thoughts went a thousand miles a minute as he started to panic over seeing Viktor for the first, or perhaps the second time.  _ What if it’s the same man that saved me? If it is, what if he recognizes me? Don’t be silly, Yuuri. You are old and wrinkled; completely unrecognizable. _

 

Then it opened.

 

There was no doubt about it. This was the very same man that saved him two days prior. Only this time his hair looked tangled around him. His shoulders slumped in exhaustion as he slowly walked in from the black abyss. But even though he looked disheveled with soot, he was still absolutely beautiful.  _ Stop Yuuri. No use thinking like that. He would never be interested in you when you were young. Why would it be any different now that you’re old. _

 

Before he could even get the door closed, Yuri was barraging him with information. “Oy Viktor. The king’s messengers were here. You have to report to the palace as both Pendragon  _ and _ Jenkins.”

 

It seemed that Viktor wasn’t paying attention to the boy at all. Instead he was slowly walking towards Yuuri; his head still down and shoulders still slumped. Yuuri couldn’t help but gasp as he turned his attention back to the bacon that he was cooking. He internally braced himself for some sort of confrontation. What kind, he didn’t know. All he knew is that he had intruded upon one of the world’s most infamous wizards in his own home.

 

Instead of confronting him, Yuuri could see that Viktor had turned his attention towards the fire. “Calcifer? You’re being so obedient.” 

 

Calcifer flared up, almost scorching the bacon. “Not on purpose! He bullied me!”

 

“Not just anybody can do that.” From the corner of his eye he saw a small smile grace Viktor’s lips. Seemingly done with his interrogation of Calcifer, Viktor turned to look at Yuuri. “And you are… who, exactly?”

 

“Uhh,” he paused quickly as he felt the nerves sink in. Worried that he would look suspicious for pausing too long, Yuuri looked at the clutter behind Viktor’s head and had an idea. “You can just call me Grandpa Yuuri. I’m your new cleaning man. I just started work today”

 

He saw Viktor’s eye squint slightly, judging whether he was telling the truth or not. All of the sudden he gently pushed into Yuuri’s shoulder with his own. “Give that to me,” he ordered as he grabbed the pan. He gently placed his hand over Yuuri’s, as if gently asking for the spoon. Yuuri felt a blush rise to his wrinkled cheeks as he relinquished the spoon. “Hand me two more slices of that bacon, and six more of those eggs.” Yuuri paused, still dazed from the contact. He quickly shook himself out of it and followed Viktor’s orders.

 

Viktor concentrated on cracking each egg with one hand. Once the egg was in the pan he would feed the shells to Calcifer, who licked them up greedily.  _ Well, _ he thought to himself.  _ At least Calcifer is getting some sort of reward.  _ “So then. Who hired you to clean?”

 

This time Yuuri barely missed a beat. “Calcifer did. He’s disgusted by how dirty it is in here.”

 

“Hmm,” he grunted noncommittally.  _ God he is so hard to read,  _ Yuuri thought, worried his cover was blown. But once again, it seemed like that was enough for Viktor. “Yuri! Get the plates.” At the order both Yuuri and the little boy got up. VIktor quickly looked between the two of them; his hair whipping back and forth. He put down the spoon and put his finger on his lips in thought. “Wait. Oh no this is going to be terribly confusing.”

 

Yuri’s voice was muffled from where he was trying to retrieve the plates.“What’s confusing about it. Call him Gramps. I don’t see a problem here.” 

 

“No, that’s not kind to him….” He paused as he studied the pan, thinking about how to solve this new riddle. Yuuri couldn’t help but smile to himself at the cute little wrinkle that formed between his eyebrows as he concentrated. Suddenly, Viktor gasped. “I know! I’ll just call you Yurio! It’s like a nickname!”

 

Yuri rolled his eyes at the older wizard. “Well you can keep your damn nickname. I don’t want it. And besides,  _ I  _ should be called Yuri. I was here first!”

 

Viktor brandished the greasy spoon towards Yurio in a scolding fashion. “Technically, Yuuri is your elder. So, show him some respect.”

 

“Ugh. Whatever.” Giving up, he pulled the plates from the pile and walked toward the impossibly cluttered table.  _ I don’t know how they expect us to eat on that. Even the chairs are piled with junk.  _ Yuuri sighed as he picked up his cane and walked towards the table.

 

“You know, I don’t really  _ need _ an apprentice.” Yuuri looked back at Viktor who was grinning a mischievous grin as he walked towards the table with the skillet. Yuuri could tell he knew right where to push Yurio’s buttons.

 

Hardly missing a beat, the boy replied, “Yes you do. Your businesses would die without me.”

 

Calcifer, however, demanded that the attention be drawn back to him.“Wait a second, you’re all going to eat while I do all the work?” His complaints fell on deaf ears as the group began to clear spots at the table.

 

“Come have some breakfast, Old Man,” Yurio sneered over his shoulder. 

 

“Yurio!” Viktor scolded as he hit the boy on the head with the dirty spoon. It was a gross enough gesture that it seemed to calm down the youth some.

 

He still had to rebel, however, for he rolled his eyes as he pulled out a chair. “Ugh. Fine. Here, Yuuri. Sit.” Once he sat, he brushed some spare crumbs from his section of the table with a wrinkle of disgust present in his nose.  _ Even the dirt has dirt on top of it  _ He was forced to look up from the table as three eating utensils were shoved in his face. “Which do you want? You only get one since the rest are dirty.” Yuuri hesitated and tried to pick the cleanest one. If this was what they considered clean, he shuddered to think what dirty would actually look like to these guys.

 

“Looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me,” he mumbled under his breath as he polished the spoon with his sleeve.

 

Viktor portioned out their breakfast on their plates and poured them all cups of tea. After he gave them all a slice of bread he raised his gup in a toast. “So, friends. Enjoy. Bon appetit.”

 

Yurio barely waited for Viktor to finish his toast before digging into the food with vigor. “God, I can’t remember the last time we had a real breakfast!” He praised the fresh food as he shoved it into his mouth. Each word was punctuated by the sounds slurping up of more and more food.

 

“Even the manners are a mess in this house,” Yuuri mumbled as he glared at Yurio from the side of his glasses.

 

The blonde boy’s hair seemed to fluff up, like an irritated cat. “You’ve got something to say about my manners?”

 

This time he faced the boy and addressed him directly. “Manners? Quite non-existent.”

 

Viktor laughed in response to their banter. Yuuri couldn’t help but smile. His laugh was musical. It was as if every bit of him was laced with magic. 

 

His pining thoughts were interrupted when Viktor turned his intense blue gaze upon him. “So, what do you have hidden in your pocket, Yuuri?”

 

“Huh?” Yuuri couldn’t help but look at him in confusion. He didn’t have anything in his pockets. Still, he fumbled his hand into his pocket where he felt a rough piece of paper. He pulled it out and looked at it in fascination.  _ How the hell…. _ “What is this?”

 

“Give it to me.” Viktor’s hand shot across the table as he demanded for the scrap. But as he grabbed the paper, the paper burst into flames and descended onto the table below. Once the paper burned away all that was left was a scorched drawing. It was a drawing of a stick figure like man. To its right there was what looked to be a half sun while soaring above its head was a shooting star. Yuuri thought it looked rather pretty, but when he looked up to see Viktor’s reaction, he didn’t look at all pleased. 

 

“Scorch marks. Viktor, can you read them?” asked the boy from where he stood on his stool, looming over the table to get a better look.

 

Viktor’s hair started to float up around him. Even though Yuuri knew no magic, even he could feel the spell swirling around him. The air made it feel like he was being watched. He didn’t like that feeling. He didn’t like it one bit.

 

“That is ancient sorcery. And quite powerful too,” Viktor declared as he leaned his face to look at the mark closely.

 

Yurio followed suit and gasped; head whipping around to look at Viktor with a touch of panic in his eyes. “It’s from the Witch of the Waste?”

 

“You who swallowed a star, you heartless man. Your heart belongs to me.” How he got that from some scribbles, Yuuri had no idea. But he had to trust him. After all he was one of the greatest, if not most infamous, wizards of the age. “That can’t be good for the table.” With that he rolled up his sleeve and pressed his palm firmly over the drawing. As his hand slowly passed over the drawing, sparks of all colors burst up from between his fingers. Yuuri would have been more overcome by his fascination if he weren’t preoccupied with his sense of fear.

 

“Wow. It’s gone.” Yurio sank back onto his stool as he looked where the drawing once was.

 

Viktor slightly shook his head as he backed away from the table, clutching the hand that removed the mark. Yuuri wondered if using such powerful magic hurt.“The mark might be gone, but the spell is still there.” Squinting at the table one last time, he grabbed his plate and walked towards Calcifer. He had barely eaten anything, but he still proceeded to scrape almost his whole breakfast into Calcifer’s awaiting mouth. “Excuse me, my friends. Please continue your meal.”

 

“Calcifer. Move the castle sixty miles to the west.” Viktor promptly pivoted on his foot as he turned towards the stairs. Before disappearing completely, he leaned back over the railing and ordered, “And while you’re at it, make hot water for my bath.” 

 

“Fine, like moving the castle isn’t hard enough,” Calcifer groaned as he put a stray twig in his mouth, gnawing on it absentmindedly.

 

Meanwhile the two Yuris had returned to their breakfasts. Yurio started to slide away from Yuuri with a glare in his eyes; suddenly distrusting of the old man. “You’re not working for the Witch of the Waste are you?”

 

Yuuri couldn’t stop himself. He went into an instant rage.“I WOULD NEVER WORK FOR THAT WITCH! SHE’S THE ONE WHO-mmhf!” All of the sudden his mouth was clamped shut. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t speak as long as he was trying to tell the truth. “mmh amhhhf a yommmf boymmmm. AHHHGG!” He finally gave up and slammed his fists on the table, not caring of the books and apples that clattered to the floor. He had finally reached the anger of his grief for the life he left behind. “IF I EVER GET MY HANDS ON THAT WITCH I’M GOING TO WRING HER FAT NECK.” 

 

Filled with renewed vigor, he started to scarf down his own anger. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that Yurio had cowered away from him. “Finish your breakfast!” And he got back to work finishing his own.

 

He  _ would  _ find a way to break his curse. And then he would find that witch and kill her. He was done being the victim. It was time to fight.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting schedule who? I don't know her
> 
> Anyway, since I have been off of work due to my ankle injury I've been super bored. So I'll probably just post these as soon as I finish editing them. 
> 
> As always, find me on tumblr at bluetrekskates.tumblr.com
> 
> See ya next time!


	4. To Work

His first opponent was the filthy castle he now resided in. Once they had finished their breakfast Yuuri shooed the young boy away from the living area so that he could have a clear space to work. When Yurio protested, he simply came back asking, “So does that mean you want to help me clean, or?” Yuuri had barely finished his sentence when Yurio scurried up the stairs as fast as his short legs would take him. 

 

He grabbed the kerchief he previously used to carry his bread and tied it around his head to keep stray debris from falling into his hair. In the pile on the table he spotted an apron and a smaller Kerchief he could wear as a makeshift mask. “Ah, perfect!” He exclaimed and went to wrestle it out from underneath the books. Satisfied with his protective equipment he stood in the middle of the space with his hands on his hips. 

 

“Now… where to begin.” He paused and looked around the living area. The place was caked in so much mess, he had no clue where to start. Should he start with the kitchen area? Or perhaps the table. Looking up he saw that the ceiling was caked in cobwebs and dust. “Okay. You first.” He found a broom and got to work.

 

He still felt the lingering frustration from his outburst at breakfast. “He thought I worked for that witch. How dare- I can’t- UGH!” He started to stab at big bunches of cobwebs with his broom. In the back of his mind he was grateful for the protection he wore on his hair and over his mouth. Without them he would have probably swallowed ten spiders already.

 

He continued muttering to himself angrily as he battled the dirt on the ceiling. Once he started to make progress, he let all of his frustration out and alternated between sweeping the floor and the ceiling. “I’ve had enough of this!” He shouted as he struck the floor. Old papers flew with the force of his sweeping. He caught old apple cores and broken quills. 

 

In his vigor, he had disturbed the long untouched homes of several bugs who were forced to run for shelter from his wrath. “You bugs better run before I bite your heads off.”

 

After most of the ceiling and floor were clear enough from his first sweep, he turned to the alcove under the stairs . So much was piled underneath it he was worried if he pulled out one item he would reach an even earlier death from an avalanche of garbage cascading down. Instead he stood to the side, took his broom and started sweeping it all out to the center of the floor to be sorted through. He felt even more empowered by making such progress. There was something about being able to throw a productive tantrum that was satisfying. As he pulled things out he shouted, “I’m sick and tired of being treated like some timid little old man!”

 

With his emotions hidden behind clouds of dust and a mask, he let tears fall from his eyes. It had only been two days, but it already felt like a lifetime. It was so unfair. What did he do to deserve this? In a matter of seconds he had lost decades off of his life. What if he couldn’t figure out how to break the spell? How old was he? Was he actually old enough to die soon? He could die any minute. He felt his lungs tightening in a familiar feeling of panic. “Air,” he gasped. “I.. need… air.” He rushed over to the door and window to open them both with the excuse of letting dust flow out of the room. He stood outside for a moment and let the fresh air hit his lungs.  _ Breathe, Katsuki. Breathe, _ he repeated to himself as a mantra. He couldn’t lose it; not yet.

 

He grabbed an old rug that rested on the top of the junk mountain he had created and draped it out the window to air out. As he began beating it he saw Yurio dart out of the castle clutching a book to his chest. As he beat the rug he couldn’t help but overhear the conversation he was having outside the window.

 

“Is my potion ready?”

 

“Come back later. There’s a wizard on a rampage in there.”

 

Yuuri couldn’t help but grin almost maniacally to himself.  _ That’s right.  _ He thought as he started bringing trash to Calcifer for him to burn, despite his protest. (“What, do I look like a compost heap to you?”)  _ I am a strong man. I’m not some shivering weakling. Tremble at my cleaning power!  _ He might not have control over much in his life right now, but at least he had this.

 

After several hours he had cleared all of the junk and trash from the floors enough to give it one final sweep before giving it a good scrub down. With each push and pull of the broom  he imagined he was actually scraping it against the witch's face. It might be a violent image, but at least he gave the floor a good scrub. 

 

Once he disposed of the dirty water he decided it was time for decoration. In his quest for cleanliness he had unearthed several beautiful rugs and wall hangings. 

 

As he walked back and forth across the room with determination he heard Calcifer quietly pleading. “Yuuri, please! I’m going out.” 

 

At his pleading Yuuri figured it was as good a time as any to clear out the fireplace. Calcifer continued to complain and plead as he grabbed a pair of fire tongs and balanced what was left of his log over a small pot he had set on the one clear side of the fireplace. “Please, PLEASE help me! Hey woah! What are you doing.”

 

He continued to squirm, making it all the more difficult to put him in the pot. “No don’t I’ll fall! Crazy man with tongs! I’m falling help!”

 

“You’ll be fine. I’m just sweeping out the ashes.” Yuuri had enough of his whining for one morning. Grabbing the scraping tool, he swiftly scooped the ashes onto an old tarp that protected the floor.

 

“No I’m not fine! Uhh help! I’m going out!” Calcifer continued to complain. As he gathered the edges of the tarp to dispose of outside, he heard Calcifer plead, “Yuuri, hurry up, please! Hurry!”

 

_ Honestly,  _ he thought as he dragged the ash out to the wastes.  _ He’s such a drama queen. And that’s coming from someone who’s friends with Phichit. _

 

When he returned from dumping the ashes he froze in his tracks. Viktor was whispering something under his breath as he seemed to coax Calcifer back to life. Once his flame was again at full blaze, those piercing blue eyes turned towards him as his hair whipped around his face. He looked slightly amused, but something was brewing under the surface. Something he couldn’t quite explain. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t torment my friend,” he requested with a fake smile on his lips.

 

He barely had time to unfreeze himself as Viktor brushed past him and Yurio, who had just returned from Porthaven. When he reached for the magic knob he gave it a twist until the color read black. “Viktor, you leaving?”

 

In lieu of a direct answer, he simply opened the door and threw over his shoulder, “Yurio, make sure the cleaning man doesn’t get carried away while I’m gone.” With a flare of the jacket that always stayed upon his shoulders like a cape, he disappeared once more into that mysterious world of darkness.

 

As soon as the door was closed Yurio whipped around and gave him an accusatory glare. “Now what did you do old man?”

 

Before he could respond, Calcifer answered for him.“He almost SMOTHERED me!” He yelled, now at full strength, and by extension, full irritation. “If I die, Viktor dies too, I hope you know.”

 

Yuuri screwed up his face in frustration. Everyone was getting on his nerves all of the sudden. “Ah be quiet, you’re alright. Now quit bothering me; I’ve got a job to do,” he demanded as he made his way towards the stairs. Now that the downstairs was more or less in order, he figured he could start tackling the up stairs.

 

“Wait! You can’t come up here!” Yurio had thrown himself between Yuuri and the stairs almost quicker than he could blink.

 

Yuuri scrunched up his eyes with a knowing glint, slightly charmed by the boy defending his room’s state. “Whatever you don’t want me to see, better hide it now.”

 

Yurio seemed to weigh his options for a second before his face melted in defeat. “Just.. save my room for last okay!?” With that he dashed up the stairs at lightning speed.

 

Yuuri chuckled to himself as he watched the youth bound up the steps. “These little outbursts seem to be giving me some energy.” He gathered his cleaning supplies in his hands and started to head up the stairs.

 

When he reached the first landing, he saw that the space was caked in even more dust than the living area was. His shoulders drooped slightly in defeat. “Ugh.. What a mess.” Deciding he would rather get all of the actual rooms done before tackling the narrow hallway, he continued up the stairs until he reached the first doorway.When he opened the door, excess steam escaped from the room. He had found himself in the bathroom.

 

Or at least, that’s what he figured this was, once he got past all of the grime. He couldn’t help but gag as he took in the room. Looking at the toilet, he saw it caked in what looked like green algae. It smelled of stale perfume and still water. Upon further investigation the still water smell was coming from the tub that still had absolutely revolting water in it. Every surface seemed to be stained with unknown substances. By their vibrant colors, he ventured to guess they were potions that had exploded. That was the only explanation he could come up with as to why they littered the walls in the way they did.

 

Dipping into a tub was either a stained towel or shirt. It was so dirty he couldn’t tell the difference. Besides the tub were some empty bottles of all shapes and sizes. A basin was upturned with random cloths spilling under it. There were books, brushes, bags; all sorts of things littering every square inch of the bathroom floor.  _ I know this place has only had men in it for a while, but that is no excuse for the bathroom to look like this. _

 

He carefully worked his way to the back wall of the bathroom where a window stood. He hoped that by opening it he could start to air out some of the horrendous smells that were stewing in the small space. When he opened it the rest of the steam billowed out. He couldn’t help but stick his head out of the window to get a gasp of fresh air.

 

The sight he saw when the steam cleared was absolutely breathtaking. 

 

The castle was moving up the mountains in the waste. He heard it creak and steam, but it was still moving so smoothly, it was like it was flying. When he looked down, he saw that they were at the top of a deep valley. The landscape was filled with condensed pine forests with a winding river cutting it down the middle. They were so high up that some low hanging clouds passed right in front of his face. He felt his head kerchief fly off of his head, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. “Incredible,” he breathed as he leaned as far as he could out of the window to truly take in the scenery below. As he took in the sights, a thought occurred to him.

 

“Calcifer! Calcifer!” He shouted as he ran out of the bathroom and down the stairs. “Are you the one moving the castle?”

 

“Of course I am,” came a dry reply. “No one else does any work around here.”

 

“I am thoroughly impressed!” He praised the overworked fire as he leaned over the stair banister. “You’re a first class fire demon! I like your spark!” With that he ran up the stairs to get a look at the other side of the castle.

 

From behind him he heard a shout. “He likes my SPARK!” Calcifer continued laughing when Yuuri ran away. As Yuuri ran to a balcony on the right side of the castle he heard a high pitch whistle come from one of the stacks atop the castle.

 

“Wah! Not ready! Not ready!” came a cry from the end of the hall. But he couldn’t care. This castle was  _ magic.  _ There was no time for cleaning when sights like this could be seen. 

 

He quickly found the balcony and yanked to door open to go outside. Wind billowed all around him, making his hair stand up wildly. He took in the plains of the waste. Now they had pine trees here and there. He stood up straighter, feeling lighter somehow as he took in the sights.

 

They were at the eastern edge of the wastes. Where the wastes ended a great lake began. Over the lake hung low flying clouds. Although, Yuuri couldn’t really tell if the clouds were low hanging, or if they were just that high up. Beyond the lake stood the tallest mountain range he had ever seen. No; the only mountain range he had ever seen. He was spoiled by how beautiful they were. Any mountain he would see after this would simply pale in comparison.

 

After a few moments Yurio had joined him against the railing, looking out at the crystal clear lake. “It’s beautiful.”

 

“Yeah. It’s called Star Lake,” Yurio supplied. 

 

Their gazing was cut short as their attention was drawn to a long stick that had gotten stuck in a joint of the castle. “What the hell? What’s that stick doing in there?”

 

Yuuri gave a knowing sigh as he headed over to the stick. “Language, Yurio. Oh dear.” He reached over the railing to grab the stick. “Give me a hand Yurio.” 

.

The two of them wiggled and pulled at the large stick until it was freed from the castle. When they swung it up Turnip Head was on the other end.

 

Yurio looked up at it in curiosity. “It’s a scarecrow.”

 

“Yup. I’ve been calling him Turnip Head,” Yuuri sighed and put his hands on his hips. This poor scarecrow just couldn’t catch a break. “Somehow he always manages to get stuck upside down.”

 

As if to show off how he got stuck in the first place, Turnip suddenly stood up straight and bounced over to one of the pipes sticking out of the castle. He gave a grateful twirl to show off. “He keeps following me everywhere. Seems to have taken a liking to me.”

 

“That’s weird. You sure you’re not a wizard, Yuuri?” The small boy glanced up at Yuuri with disbelief in his eyes.

 

Yuuri smirked as he loomed over the young wizard.“Oh yes! I’m the worst kind of wizard ever! The kind that cleans!” 

 

Once they were done marveling at the beauty of the view, Yuuri enlisted the help of Yurio to finish cleaning. Yuuri worked on the bathroom while Yurio cleaned some old laundry. Yuuri had a feeling that the only reason the young boy was being so helpful was to draw attention away from his room. He was surprised, but somehow Yuuri had managed to get all of the grime off of the walls of the bathroom. He even tidied up Viktor’s potions, which were originally scattered throughout the entire bathroom. He arranged them by color on the shelf for now; figuring that Viktor could reorganize it in a way that made sense to him later.

 

By the time they had finished cleaning the castle had reached its destination as it slowed to a stop at the bank of crystal lake. Yuuri could feel the castle dip down as it settled. Wanting to take advantage of their stop and the fresh air, they both grabbed the basket of damp laundry to hang up to dry outside. When they emerged from the castle Turnip Head was waiting for them. Yuuri knew the scarecrow well enough to know that he just wanted to help. So, they tied an end of the drying line to Turnip and got to work.

 

Yurio held one end as Yuuri draped the laundry on the line. “Quit pulling so hard Turnip Head!” Yurio protested as he struggled to hold his end of the line steady.

 

Once all of the laundry was on one line, they tied one end around a rock as Turnip bounced to the top of the castle to attach it to a high pole. After they repeated the process on another line, Yuuri decided he wanted to take advantage of the gorgeous view. Yurio helped Yuuri bring a table and chair to the edge of the lake. Once they got a table and chairs set up, Yuuri went back inside to fix them a nice little picnic.

 

He put a kettle on Calcifer, with much protest, to make some tea while he prepared a cold lunch. He decided that some cheese and tomato open faced sandwiches would be good. Once the tea was done he put it all in a basket and brought it out to the table they had set up. 

 

While they started their light lunch they could see Turnip fixing the laundry in the distance.

 

“Looks like he likes doing the laundry,” Yurio commented on the scarecrow’s behavior.

 

Yuuri chuckled into his tea. “He’ll have it dry in no time.”

 

“I bet he’s some kind of demon. Calcifer doesn’t seem to mind him at all,” Yurio continued talking with his entire slice of tomato hanging out of his mouth. Yuuri could comment, but decided to pay attention to the beautiful scenery instead. The prickly boy had finally seemed to warm up to him. He didn’t want to scare him away by chastising him for his lack of manners.

 

“You’re right. He probably is a demon. But, he lead me here. So maybe he’s the good kind.” Yuuri looked out to the lake. Storm clouds loomed on the horizon over the lake. Instead of looking threatening, it just looked beautiful. Beams of sunlight cast down upon the lake like a rain of light, making the lake twinkle with stars in the distance.

 

Once they were finished with their lunch, Yurio cleared the table and all but one chair so Yuuri could continue to sit and enjoy the scenery. He sat as close to the edge of the water as he could. The water would occasionally lick at the bottom of his shoes playfully, but he couldn’t pay any mind.

 

After a while of silence he heard the telltale crunch of gravel approach him. “We got all of the laundry done, Yuuri.”

 

“Oh, thank you Yurio.”He paused thinking about what to say next. He was drawn in again by the view in front of him. “When you’re old, all you want to do is stare at the scenery.” Yurio settled in besides him to watch the water lap around them. 

 

“It’s so strange. I’ve never felt so peaceful before.” He honestly didn’t know what to feel. This was all so strange. Yes he was old, but not really. He had the body of an old man, but did he really feel that way? Looking out to the setting sun he wondered for the first time what would actually become of him if he didn’t break his curse. Before, he knew he had decades ahead of him. But now… did he even have a year left? 

 

He took a settling breath to quell the panic that threatened to rise in him. He didn’t know how to break this curse. He wasn’t ready to die so soon. He had so much life left to live and he wasn’t about to let some witch take that away from him. 

 

Deciding that sitting out there any longer would only force him to continue to stew in his own negative thoughts, he stood up and started to walk back to the castle. He heard Yurio pick up his chair and head back with him in silence. It had been a long, full day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always you can find me at bluetrekskates.tumblr.com


	5. Viktor's Bad Day

In an unknown area of the country, Viktor flew high above the remains of a city. This city, full of innocent people, had been transformed from a nice and busy town, to a sea of fire; all in a matter of minutes. Viktor would have seethed at this sight if he hadn’t seen it time and time again. At this point he was almost desensitized to the destruction. Almost.

 

Right now he needed to focus on two things: destroying as many ships as possible and staying alive. The latter was proving to be increasingly difficult as the day wore on. Although, it was hard to even tell if it was day by all of the dark smoke that took over the sky.

 

He risked a glance down. That was always a bad idea. Whenever he did that he would only be met with the sight of ruined lives. Ruined homes. Useless, senseless destruction.

 

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the sounds of new bombs being dropped. His head snapped up as he locked his eyes on the location of the new bombing. Above the new sea of flames he saw two groups of aircraft flying towards each other on  a collision course.

 

Viktor quickly made his way to the front lines to take on the wizard threat that would quickly follow to destroy the individual homes that were still untouched. Although, he used the term wizard lightly. These magic wielders weren’t even a shadow of their former selves. They were now this horrific mutation of a bird and lizard. Their jaws were long and teeth sharp. Their hands formed into webbed feet with sharp talons. The only thing marking their patronage was the hat and masks sitting atop their heads.

 

Sir Feltsman’s.

 

He didn’t care that they belonged to his former teacher. He didn’t care that they used to be people. They ceased to be humans once they signed over their lives to the crown.

 

The creatures quickly spotted him and descended upon him. While he wanted to take down as many of them as he could, he knew he was running out of stamina. In one final push he flew to them head on. When they gathered in a ball around him, he channeled his own destructive magic as he spun himself free. He felt dozens of the creatures fall to his wrath before speeding up towards the barrier of the smoke.

 

He quickly created a hole in the smoke to break free. Just before the wizards could follow him, he slammed the portal shut so he could safely return home.

 

Once he was far enough away he summoned the dark portal. He dragged himself into his castle feeling dead on his feet. He didn’t even have the energy to turn back from his bird form. Once in front of Calcifer he collapsed into the chair and threw his feet up on the fireplace ledge, letting the warmth of the fire seep into his bones.

 

After he settled he heard Calcifer whisper to him. “Whew. You okay? I mean, you smell terrible.”

 

Before he answered the fire he wanted to get back into his human form. He had been abusing this form of magic lately. Each time he changed he looked less and less human. And each time it was more painful to turn back. With a stifled grunt he forced himself to pull the feathers back in. He slowly felt his fingers return. His talons turned back into shoes. His feathered hair, back into his long, starlike locks. It took him a full minute to return to normal. Once the transformation was complete he gave a relieved groan as he fully relaxed into the old chair.

 

“You shouldn’t keep flying around like that. Soon you won’t be able to turn back into a human.” When he didn’t get an answer the fire grabbed at a piece of wood that had been set out for him. “Isn’t this great? Yuuri put these here for me!”

 

The attempt at distraction didn’t help the wizard. “This war is terrible. They’ve bombed from the southern coast to the northern border. It’s all in flames now.” He shifted forward and placed his head in his hands; dejected.

 

He could see the flames puff up before Calcifer responded. “I can’t stand the fire in gunpowder! Those dopey guys have absolutely no manners.”

 

“My own kind attacked me today.” Viktor looked at the fire with a far away sadness. No one deserved what these wizards did to themselves.

 

“Who? The Witch of the Wastes?”

 

Viktor settled back into the chair. “No. Some hack wizards who turned themselves into monsters for the king.”

 

“Those wizards are going to regret doing that. They’ll never change back into humans.” Calcifer shook his head as he thought of the stupid wizards.

 

Viktor protested the statement. “After the war the won’t recall they ever  _ were _ human.”

 

Wanting to figure out what was going on in Viktor’s head, he pressed about the letters they had received earlier that morning.“Hey. Aren’t you supposed to report to the king to? Hmmm?”

 

Viktor stood up. Done with the conversation. He had dealt with enough for one day. He didn’t have the energy or brainpower to deal with that conversation.“I’m tired. Make some hot water for my bath.” With that he turned towards the stairs.

 

“What? Not again!” But Viktor didn’t pay attention to his protests. His attention was instead drawn to where a curtain now resided. He realized that the couch had recently disappeared from where it sat next to the fire.

 

His curiosity got the better of him as he pulled back the curtain. Upon looking inside he saw the resting form of Yuuri. His Yuuri. Only this time the clutches of the spell that he was under were seemingly asleep as well. The wrinkles on his face had smoothed to show perfect skin. His nose and ears were back to their normal size. Atop his head sat a messy crop of raven black hair. He was just as stunning as he remembered seeing in that alley way. He looked so peaceful in sleep. 

 

Viktor would give anything to break the spell he was under. But he knew this spell. Only the one who was under it could break it. And since he couldn’t talk about it, he only hoped Yuuri would find the confidence he needed to break his spell. 

 

Giving one last look he sighed and let the curtain flutter back into place, finally deciding to head to his bath.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Yuuri woke with a start; hearing the plumbing from above thunder with fresh water. He quickly combed his fingers through his hair to tame the craziness on his scalp. He began to pull his hair into his customary short ponytail at the base of his neck.  Peering out of his curtain from his makeshift room he turned to Calcifer. “Is Viktor back?”

 

“Yeah, and he’s wasting all of my hot water again,” he complained as he gnawed on a fresh log. 

 

At that point Yuuri was already up; so instead of going back to sleep, he decided to get up for the day. Once he was dressed he started to take stock of what food they had. He had to throw most of it out the day prior because it was so moldy. Looking at the sad excuse for food they had left, he put another kettle on for tea and made some quick breakfast sandwiches with the cheese and some eggs. 

 

By the time he was finished, Yurio had sleepily made his way down stairs. However he was excited to be treated to a fresh cooked breakfast for the second day in a row.  _ I know he’s getting an education with Viktor,  _ he thought.  _ But it’s so sad that he is so young and doesn’t have access to fresh cooked meals. _

 

Once they had finished their breakfasts Yurio started to head upstairs. “Oh no you don’t,” Yuuri stopped him in his tracks. “You and me are going to the market. It’s a Saturday so it is the perfect day to get groceries.”

 

Yuuri didn’t wait to see if Yurio would protest. Instead he grabbed a basket and went to the door. He turned the knob to the Porthaven door and when he opened it Yurio was at his side, disguise well in place. “I don’t know why we’re doing this, old man. Viktor hardly eats anything.”

 

“Too bad,” he replied, barely missing a beat.  _ And besides. I’m doing this more for you than for him.  _ However, he knew if he voiced that thought aloud Yurio would dash right back into the house.

 

As they walked out of the castle and towards the vendors Yuuri bid good morning to those he met. 

 

Yuuri wanted Yurio to feel included in this shopping day they had ahead of them. So, he tried to start casual conversation with the young boy. “Don’t you just love morning markets? Just look at the water! I’ve never seen the ocean before. It’s beautiful!”

 

“It always looks like that,” Yurio grumbled in response. Apparently Yurio wasn’t a morning person.  _ Well, hopefully this fresh air will wake him up a bit! _

 

The first vendor they went to was that of a vegetable farmer. Taking a quick look at the spread in front of him, he decided to get potatoes. They wouldn’t go bad quickly and can be made into many different dishes.

 

However, just as he finished picking out his selection of spuds it seemed that Yurio couldn’t help but protest. “I hate potatoes,” he stated simply in his gruff old man voice.

 

Yuuri wasn’t going to have any of that though. “Pay up,” he demanded.  _ This boy is going to get good food if it’s the last thing I do.  _ “Thanks, have a nice day!” He bid the seller goodbye and went to the next booth.

 

Next up was a fresh fish vendor. “All our fish was caught fresh this morning,” the vendor confirmed. Yuuri started to examine each fish to decide if he wanted to buy. 

 

“I hate fish.” This time Yuuri wasn’t even going to entertain Yurio with an answer. If he wanted to pout then he could pout all he wanted; Yuuri would still continue shopping.

 

But before he could finish his shopping he heard a ruckus start behind him. He looked up from the fish he was holding to see where everyone was running to. “I think there’s a fire!” one man yelled. “Looks like we’ve been attacked!” shouted another.

 

“Sorry sir, we’re closed,” the vendor shooed him off briskly as he ran to examine the commotion.

 

Sure enough a war beaten battle ship was being escorted into harbour by several smaller boats. Once they got close enough to shore several men could be seen jumping off of the ship to swim to safety. 

 

As the two worked their way to the back edge of the crowd they saw several small boats leaving the harbour to meet the stranded soldiers. Smoke was billowing dangerously off of the ship as dozens of men jumped into the sea. It was a horrific sight.

 

“Come on Yuuri, let’s get a better look!” Yurio pulled on the basket to urge the older man forward.

 

Yuuri just scrunched back into the wall. “No! I’ve seen about all I can take. Let’s go home.”

 

While Yurio was still entranced by the disaster unfolding before them, Yuuri couldn’t help but anxiously look back towards the fake entrance of their castle. He was trying to see if there was a quick path they could take to get back. Instead he was greeted with the sight of a tall figure in a purple suit; a figure made of black tar.

 

“Mmm!” Yuuri couldn’t help but yelp as he pressed himself firmly to the wall. “The witch’s henchmen are here!” 

 

“What!!?” Yurio whipped his head around to see the source of Yuuri’s distress.

 

Yuuri quickly hushed the boy as he whispered, “Quiet down! They’re only a few feet away.”

 

Yuuri held his breath as the tar man seemed to gaze across the crowd. Seeming to find nothing, it slowly slunk back into the shadows. 

 

Yuuri let out the breath he had been holding. “He’s gone. I don’t understand why no one else seemed to notice him.”

 

His inquiry was punctuated by the bombs that were promptly dropped into the ocean in front of the already ruined ship. The people in the crowd were a mess. Most were scrambling to run away from the danger, while a few were fighting against the stream to help those stuck on the ships. Everything around them was chaos.

 

Yurio looked up to search for the source of the bombs. Once he located it he pointed to the sky, not caring that his hood and disguise fell away. “Look up there Yuuri! It’s the enemy’s air ship!”

 

When Yuuri looked up he saw something fall from the ship above. It looked strange. There were hundreds of white specks being dropped from the ship, but they weren’t falling quickly enough to be more bombs.

 

Yuuri knew it was just paper, but he had enough for one day. As others were scrambling around him to pick up the pieces of paper that had been dropped, he was fighting against the crowd to get back home. “Yuuri! Wait up old man!” Yurio shouted after him as they fought their way home.

 

Once they were inside the safety of their home Yuuri sagged against the wall by the steps to catch his breath. That was enough excitement for one morning. “You okay old man?” Asked the frazzled little boy.

 

Instead of answering, Yuuri started to work his way up the stairs and to the chair that sat in front of Calcifer. “I just need a glass of water,” he panted as he sat into the chair.

 

“I’ll get it,” the blonde scrambled to the now clean kitchen area to get a cool glass of water and put down the basket of potatoes.

 

Yuuri sat down, glad to catch his breath. 

 

But right as his butt touched the chair the whole house rattled with the force of Viktor running into his bathroom door.

 

“AHHHHH!” Viktor howled from the bathroom. Yuuri heard his sobs continue as his footsteps ran down the hallway. He swore he heard Viktor run into a few walls as he ran to the steps, almost as if he wasn’t looking where he was going.

 

When his head popped down the stairs, Yuuri understood why he was crying. His long, beautiful hair that looked like moonlight was now… orange. A bright, garish orange. If he didn’t look so distressed Yuuri would have laughed at the sudden change in appearance. That didn’t seem to stop Yurio though; as he heard a soft snicker come from his side.

 

“YUURI! YOU SABOTAGED ME!” He shouted down as he leaned over the railing.

 

“LOOK!” He continued to scream as he ran down the stairs; gripping his hair with both hands and eyes staring wide manically. “LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE TO MY HAIR!!” He shouted as he shoved his hair directly into Yuuri’s face, causing him to flinch back.“LOOOOOOK!!”

 

“Wha-what a pretty color,” he stuttered out, trying to calm down the raging wizard. He had never had someone be this angry at him before, let alone such a powerful wizard.

 

Viktor took a step back so he could look Yuuri in the eyes. “IT’S HIDEOUS! YOU COMPLETELY RUINED MY MAGIC POTIONS IN THE BATHROOM!” 

 

Yuuri raised his palms defensively; unconsciously shrinking back as his shoulders caved in on himself. “I-I-I just r-reorganized things Viktor; nothing’s ruined!”

 

“WRONG! WRONG! I SPECIFICALLY ORDERED YOU NOT TO GET CARRIED AWAY!” The man seemed to finally have lost his steam. His expression dropped in defeat as he collapsed into the chair behind him. “And now I’m repulsive. I can’t live like this,” he turned away from Yuuri, facing Calcifer with his head in his hands.

 

“Come on, it’s not that bad.” Seeing the man calm down somewhat helped Yuuri to regain his composure as well. As he was about to continue comforting VIktor, his hair slowly started to change. It lightened up to a yellow before shifting to green, blue, until it finally settled on a soft muted grey. “You should look at it now! This shade is even better! I’d say it’s close to the original!” 

 

Viktor, however, wasn’t seeing any of this. Instead he continued to pout as he muttered to the floor. “I give up. I see no point in living if I can’t be beautiful.”

 

The sight was honestly disturbing. His eyes were glazed over, seeing nothing as they bored holes into the floor below him. As he stared into nothingness the room around them started to shift. The shadows that were cast by the natural light in the room started to grow. Creatures that Yuuri could not name started to form out of the shadows and creep towards them. It was as if the actual room itself was shifting into another reality.

 

“Viktor. Vitya. Cut it out,” Calcifer demanded as shadow creatures creeped towards him.

 

Yuuri looked around the room in confusion before his unasked question was answered by the small Yurio who was clinging to his side. “He’s calling the spirits of darkness. I saw him do this before when a girl dumped him, idiot.”

 

“Now, Viktor. You’re alright. We’ll just dye your hair back again. Okay?” Yuuri put his hand on Viktor’s shoulder to try and give him some comfort. He of all people understood what depression and anxiety could do to someone. It just so happened that Viktor’s panic attacks were a bit worse. 

 

Except instead of listening to him, VIktor responded to secrete sludge from his skin. The green goo was cold to the touch and clung to Yuuri’s hand even as he jerked it away.

 

That was it. The final straw.

 

Yuuri took a deep breath before screaming, “FINE! YOU THINK YOU’VE GOT IT BAD? I’VE NEVER ONCE BEEN BEAUTIFUL IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!” With tears in his eyes he sprinted to the door and turned it to the wastes. “I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS PLACE!!!” He flung himself into the rain. Anything was better than being in the oppressive air that permeated the castle. He sprinted to the edge of the lake and stared out into the stormy water.

 

He took a deep breath.

 

And he cried.

 

Oh how he cried.

 

He cried for the life he had lost. He cried because he would probably never see Phichit again. He cried because he would never see his family again. He cried because he was old and only had a few years left, if he was lucky. He cried because he was ugly. He cried because no one would ever love him; not even himself. He cried because he had fooled himself into thinking that maybe Viktor cared about anyone but himself. He cried because Viktor would never love someone like him; old or not.

 

He cried.

 

He cried.

 

He cried.

 

He cried until he heard the telltale thumping of Turnip approaching. All of the sudden the rain was no longer hitting him even though the rain hadn’t stopped. Yuuri looked up to see Turnip towering over him holding an umbrella. “Thank you Turnip Head. How did you get to be so kind?”

 

Turnip Head was quickly followed by Yurio who ran quickly from the house. Once he reached Yuuri he grabbed on his arm and started tugging him back to the castle. “Yuuri! Get back inside, we need your help! Viktor’s in trouble!”

 

As they walked in from the downpour they could hear Calcifer’s shouts from inside. “Viktor! Vitya cut it out! I’m gonna drown, I’M DROWNING HERE YUURI! YUURI HELP HIM PLEASE! YUURI DO SOMETHING!” Viktor’s head was now resting on the fireplace. Goo was pooling around Calcifer and threatening to snuff him out.

 

“Such drama,”he chuckled as he looked at the ridiculous man. 

 

Yuuri felt Yurio’s trembling hands clutch at his shirt. “Is he dead?”

 

“No, he’s fine. He’s just throwing a tantrum. Come on; give me a hand,” he soothed the youth and rolled up his sleeves so he could help Viktor get back to the bathroom.

 

“Okay,” replied Yurio.

 

They both pushed the chair he was sitting in towards the stairs. It was made easier by the slime that now coated the bottoms of the chair. Once they reached the stairs Yuuri knew Yurio was too small to help hoist him up the long flight.

 

He started to drag his limp form up the stairs as he ordered Yurio. “Get the hot water running.”

 

“Right!” The young boy sped around him and started to fix the bath.

 

He could handle getting Viktor up the stairs, but he was still heavy. Trying to think of a way to encourage him, he recalled the nickname Calcifer had called him a few minutes ago. “Come on, Vitya, you can still walk.” 

 

The only response he received was the sound of something plopping behind them. Curious, he turned to see the source of the noise; only to be greeted by the sight of the towel that was covering Viktor now on the floor. He couldn’t help but blush as he caught a glimpse at his ass.  _ Come on, Yuuri. Concentrate. Do not think about how good that ass looks. Just get him in the bathroom. _

 

Once he had finally gotten the man into the bathroom, he helped situate him in the tub. “Get him cleaned up Yurio,” he told the young boy so he could take care of the mess his tantrum had left behind.

 

He heard a muttered “I will,” as he shut the door.

 

Looking out to the hallway, he saw the slime trail Viktor left in his wake. He stifled a sigh as he put his hands on his hips. “ Now I have to mop again.”

 

But before he could go down to the closet and grab the mop the door opened once more. Steam billowed out as the small form of Yurio ran up to Yuuri. “He’s awake. And he’s demanding that I come get you.”

 

“But I,” he paused and sighed. “Fine. Yurio, could you be a dear and start mopping this for me?”

 

Yurio started to work his way through the slime and towards the closet. “Sure. Anything to get away from washing his naked ass. I know I signed up to be his apprentice, but that was not a part of the deal.”

 

_ It’s not really a part of the deal for me either,  _ he thought as he walked towards the now open bathroom door.  _ And yet, here I am. _

 

When he walked in, he couldn’t help but smile to himself as he looked down at Viktor. He was twirling the ends of his hair between his fingers. His eyes were still far away. Yuuri looked down at him and he suddenly felt young again; almost lighter. “Hey you,” he almost startled as he recognised his young voice come from his lips.

 

Viktor looked up at him and tried to smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Hey. It’s okay. You don’t need to pretend for little old me.” He gave the man a soft smile as he pulled the stool up to the side of the tub. “You helped me. You let me into your home when I was cold and lost. Let me help you.”

 

The wizard seemed to relax at that and stared back at the ends of his hair. Yuuri turned around to grab a clean towel from the rack behind him. He put the towel up and looked at Viktor for permission. When he gave a small nod Yuuri turned the shower head on and started to wash the slime off of the man.

 

Yuuri took the towel and rubbed it in slow circles on the man’s skin. Viktor seemed so far away. It frightened Yuuri a bit. Whenever he got to his worst place mentally it was almost as if he was too present. This was the exact opposite. In hopes of bringing Viktor back to him, he began to tell little stories to the man.

 

“You know, when I was little, my sister and I got into all sorts of trouble.” He paused and chuckled at the memory. “I think it was a year before my sister went off to study with the Witch Helga. Have you heard of her?” When Viktor didn’t respond Yuuri simply continued with his story. “Anyway she was just starting to get a handle of her powers. Sometimes she would accidentally catch a hat on fire in the shop. Others she would turn the rain into snow during the summer and ruin Mother’s flower garden. I think part of the reason she did that was because Father had died the winter before. It was her way of rebelling.”

 

Viktor looked up slowly and blinked away some of the fog in his eyes. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

 

Yuuri dropped the towel into the dirty water in shock. “Thank you. But it was a long time ago. I don’t remember much about him. I think I was only five at the time.” 

 

He picked the towel up and draped it over the side of the tub, switching that for a comb to get the slime out of his hair. “So yeah. Her grief. Well we were out in the streets one day, playing like kids do, when we began to play in the puddles the rain had left the night before. However, she thought she would be clever and turn one of the puddles into bright pink paint. Right as a car got ready to speed through the puddle. Next thing I know, I’m covered head to toe in this garishly pink paint and my sister is cackling behind a barrel, not a drop to be seen. Needless to say, my mother was furious. We had to drain the tub five times and give it three good scrubbings before all of the paint was off of me and out of the tub.”

 

When he saw Viktor’s small smile his chest warmed, happy to know that he brought the man a bit of joy.

 

After they filled and drained the tub twice, Yuuri filled the tub up a third time with clean water and turned towards the shelves that were crowded with different potions. “I-I don’t want to mess something up again. Which one do you typically use to wash off your body?”

 

Viktor blinked some more of the fog out of his eyes as he looked up at the viles. “The tall red one for my body. And just grab the skinny blue one and the short green one for my hair.”

 

Yuuri grabbed the items and set them besides the tub. He poured some of the contents from the red bottle onto a fresh cloth. He couldn’t help but smell it before he started to bathe the man. “It smells like… roses. And peppermint.”

 

Viktor leaned back and sighed. “I learned to make that when I was fifteen. I’ve tried different smells, but that’s the one that always stuck. I know it’s a strange combination.”

 

“I like it,” Yuuri blushed as he finished washing the man’s body.

 

Once he was done with the body he grabbed both of the hair bottles from the floor. “Are you sure you want me to dye your hair back? What if I mess it up again?”

 

Viktor gave an empty laugh; His eyes opened but not seeming to see. “No, I don’t think I will dye it back. No point. That’s just shampoo and conditioner.”

 

“Oh… I see,” he whispered as he started to work the product into the man’s scalp. He couldn’t help but marvel at how silky it felt running through his fingers. “You know, I really do like this color. I think it’s more you.”

 

“Hmmm,” Viktor hummed noncommittally. “I would hope so since it is my natural color.”

 

“What!?” Yuuri gasped. “It’s so beautiful. It’s like a cloudy winter sky.”

 

Viktor looked up at the black haired man and smiled. Truly, this time; some of it actually reaching his eyes. “Really?”

 

Yuuri nodded, scooping some water in his hands to rinse the product out of his hair. He couldn’t help but feel old again. “Yes really. Even when I was younger my hair was nothing special. Just common black.” Viktor’s morphed into one of concern as he looked at Yuuri. If something had changed in the air between them in that moment, neither of them commented on it.

 

Once he finished washing his hair, Yuuri pulled the drain in the tub one final time.

 

“Alright you,” Yuuri said, standing up and cracking his back. “Let’s get you dried off and to your room.

 

“No.” Viktor stared back up at the ceiling. 

 

Before Yuuri could ask why he suddenly became so defiant, Viktor pulled up the ends of his hair to look at them one last time. “Go get Yurio. Tell him to get me a change of clothes. I need his help with something.”

 

“O-okay?” Yuuri looked at Viktor in confusion before turning to leave the bathroom.

 

Before he stepped out of the door he was stopped by Viktor’s voice once more. “Yuuri, wait.” He stopped and looked at the wizard. He looked so vulnerable sitting curled up in the tub with a fluffy towel draped over his shoulders.

 

“Yes Viktor?”

 

Viktor paused, drawing the ends of his hair together. “Thank you. For everything. And...” he paused, a light blush blooming over his cheeks. “Call me Vitya.”

 

Yuuri smiled gently at the younger man who looked for approval in his gaze. “Anytime, Vitya. Get some rest.”

 

When he stepped out of the restroom the hallway was clean, much to his surprise. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the young boy, it was just when he was that age he couldn’t be trusted to clean anything properly either. 

 

Yurio was curled up on his bed in his room pouring over some book. Yuuri couldn’t help but chuckle to himself at the child’s room. It was covered in different wild animal prints; although tiger stripes seemed to permeate most designs. “Yurio?” he whispered, not wanting to startle the boy.

 

“WAIT I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU WEREN’T CLEANING OUR ROOMS!?!” He shouted as he scrambled to shove things in drawers.

 

Yuuri couldn’t help but laugh at the boy. “No, Yurio! I’m not. It’s Viktor. He asked for me to come get you. He wants you to bring him a change of clothes and he needs your help with something.”

 

“Okay.” Yurio slammed the book shut. “But if I come back and find that you touched any of my shit, you’re dead.”

 

“Language, Yurio!” Yuuri chastised as the blonde disappeared up another set of stairs to where Viktor’s room must lie.

 

After all of the commotion of the day, stacked on top of his early wake up call in the morning, Yuuri was exhausted. He went downstairs to his makeshift room and pulled the curtains around him to block out the light.  _ I’m old. I can take a nap whenever I want to. _ He thought to himself as he settled down to sleep.

 

His last thoughts before embracing unconsciousness were of the silver haired man, his great ass, and his shy smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, you can find me at bluetrekskates.tumblr.com


	6. A Royal Endeavor

Yuuri woke up an hour later to a castle that was so quiet, he almost thought it was night time. He straightened out his ponytail and put his glasses back on his face before poking his head out of the curtain. The living area was empty. Yurio’s cloak was missing, so the youth must have went back on the town to run errands for his master. Calcifer was drawing his finger through a pile of ash; a bored expression fixed upon his face.

 

“It’s about time you got up. I’m bored out of my mind here.” The fire startled him, addressing him directly. Yuuri emerged from his couch cave and straightened his shirt nervously; embarrassed by being caught staring.

 

“I think this is the quietest it had been since I’ve arrived,” Yuuri commented as he walked towards the now clean chair that continued to sit in front of the fire.

 

“Yeah, believe it or not this place is usually this quiet. Or at least, it was before you got here.”

 

Yuuri looked back at the stairs; almost as if he was willing Viktor to walk down them. “Has Viktor come down yet?”

 

Calcifer grunted as he grabbed for another log. “Nah. He probably won’t come down for a while. Last time he got like that he stayed in his room for a week.” The fire paused as he leaned on the new piece of wood. “Yuuri, you really have to figure out how to break our spell. What he did back there was some serious magic. Another stunt like that…” he petered off, almost as if he didn’t want to voice what he was afraid of.

 

Yuuri gathered that what was happening was not good. Viktor just went through a tough spell. Even if he brought it upon himself, he must be miserable just sitting in his room all alone. He thought back to the far away look that never seemed to leave Viktor’s eyes earlier. It made a shiver run through his spine.

 

Determined to bring him back, Yuuri went to their cooler and grabbed the milk and a clean kettle. “Oh no. AGAIN!? Come on, seriously man. What’s with you and forcing me to use kettles.”

 

“Oh shut up.” Yuuri was having none of the fire’s drama. “This isn’t for me. It’s for Viktor. He needs to feel better.” He poured some of the milk into the kettle and put it on top of Calcifer; only this time the small fire didn’t seem to protest as much.

 

Once the milk was warmed, he poured it into a glass, grabbed a few biscuits, and went upstairs to deliver them to Viktor. He remembered when his mother would fix him warmed milk and biscuits whenever his anxiety seemed to grab hold of him. It always helped bring him back to the here and now.

 

Once he reached Viktor’s door he gave it a tentative knock. When he didn’t answer Yuuri almost turned right back around. But then he thought of those eyes. How fogged they were. How dead.

 

Regaining his resolve, he slowly opened the door; he didn’t want to wake the man if he was asleep.

 

The sight that welcomed him when he walked into the room made him softly gasp. The room itself was magnificent. Every surface was covered with some sort of decoration. The ceiling had different kinds of charms and mobiles hanging down from it. Some were crystal, others paper. There were even what looked like dried plants hanging from every surface. Yuuri was sure that some, if not all, of these items contained some magical abilities.

 

The wall to the right of the bed consisted entirely of bookcases. The shelves overflowed with books, scrolls and more vials of potions. To the left of the bed no floor could be seen. Some flat surfaces were used as a table, but those tables were made of books that were stacked so high, they threatened to topple over. 

 

At the center of the room there was a large king size bed. In the middle of that bed lay a silver haired wizard. He looked like a small child, dwarfed by the sea of blankets that were piled around him. His bed was littered with different stuffed animals; some were worn from use while others looked brand new.

 

While all of this was overwhelming to behold, the one thing that truly shocked him was the man that was lying in the bed. Yuuri could see what Viktor needed Yurio’s help with earlier.

 

His hair was gone. Rather, the long locks had been shorn short. His new crop of short hair fell across his forehead and covered one of his eyes. Yuuri couldn’t help but wonder if he had felt weighed down by his silvery locks.

 

He quickly shook his head to gather his bearings. Luckily there was a path to the bed.  _ There we go, _ he thought to himself.  _ I’ll just set this on his side table and head back out. _

 

Yuuri worked his way over to the bed. He couldn’t help but stop once he reached Viktor’s side. Carefully putting the milk and biscuits down, he reached a wrinkled hand out and ran his fingers through his bangs. He loved the way the short hair fell through his fingers.

 

Letting out a sigh, he withdrew his hand. Nothing could ever happen between them. Viktor was, well, Viktor. Yuuri was nothing special.

 

“I brought you some warm milk. I’ll leave it here for you,” he whispered as he leaned back. With one last look he turned to leave the way he came. Before he got too far he heard a small voice from behind him. “Yuuri, wait.”

 

He held his breath and slowly turned around. Viktor’s eyes were half lidded as he looked up at the older man. “Please. Stay.”

 

Yuuri couldn’t say no to this man. With a small smile he cleared off a chair that was buried under some books and sat next to the tired wizard.

 

“Do you want some milk? Maybe a biscuit?” Viktor shook his head slightly, closing his eyes once more. Yuuri didn’t exactly know why Viktor wanted him to stay, but he wouldn’t complain.

 

After a few quiet seconds one of the mobiles on the wall turned on its own as a crystal within it started to hum and give off a bright light. Yuuri thought it looked pretty, but Viktor seemed to be startled by its sudden movement. His eyes snapped open as a worried expression was painted onto his features. “The Witch of the Wastes is trying to find my castle.” 

 

_ Ahh, so it must be some kind of alarm system,  _ Yuuri thought as he looked back up at the crystal. He suddenly remembered the harbour from earlier that day. “Oh! I saw one of her henchmen at the harbour.”

 

“I’m such a big coward. All I do is hide. And all of this magic is just to keep everybody away.” He closed his eyes again when it looked like tears threatened to fall from them. He turned his face away as he continued, “I can’t stand how scared I am.”

 

This entire time it seemed like the witch and Viktor were playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse. It had never occurred to Yuuri to ask about it until now. “Viktor, why is the Witch of the Waste trying to hunt you down?” He asked, hoping to get to the bottom of the issue.

 

Viktor turned his face back up towards the ceiling. His eyes were far away in a memory. “She was once quite beautiful, so I decided to pursue her. Then I realized she wasn’t. So as usual, I ran away.”

 

Yuuri couldn’t help but roll his eyes.  _ Of course it was for something so shallow. _

 

“I can’t run for much longer though,” he continued. “I have to report to the palace; as both Pendragon  _ and  _ Jenkins.”

 

“How many aliases do you have, anyway?” Yuuri asked. He was already in this deep, he might as well know exactly what he was getting into.

 

“As many as I need to keep my freedom.” 

 

The statement was so, assured. Yuuri wondered why he grasped onto freedom so fiercely. Had something happened to make him cling to it so tightly? Yuuri didn’t know much about magical politics, but he figured he could provide an outsider’s look. “Hmm,” he thought for a moment. “Just refuse the king’s invitation!”

 

Viktor pulled an arm out from under his covers. He pointed behind him limply as he asked, “See that?” Yuuri nodded. “That’s the oath I took when I entered the royal sorcery academy. I must report to the palace whenever summoned.” 

 

Yuuri looked at the paper as if it would help him come up with some other ideas. Suddenly it hit him. “You know what, Viktor? I think you should see the king!”

 

“What!?!” Viktor’s eyes flew open as he struggled to sit up.

 

Yuuri could feel himself get excited. This was an amazing opportunity for Viktor; why couldn’t he see it. “Give him a piece of your mind! Tell him this war is pointless, and you refuse to take part!”

 

Viktor sighed deeply and rolled his eyes at the excited old man. “You obviously have no clue what these people are like.”

 

Yuuri couldn’t help but protest. “But, he’s our king! He should want to hear what all our citizens have to say.”

 

Viktor was quiet as he thought things over. Suddenly he was struck by an idea. He sprung up with so much energy that his blankets fell off of him and his stuffed animals clattered to the floor. “I’ve got it!” he exclaimed. “Why don’t you go to the palace for me?”

 

“Huh?” Yuuri gave a questioning grunt, confused by Viktor’s sudden change in attitude and in plan. 

 

“Just say that you’re Pendragon’s father. And your son is too cowardly a wizard, he’s too afraid to show his face! Maybe then Sir Feltsman will finally give up on me!” 

 

The whole plan was absolutely ridiculous. There were so many holes and he had so many questions. “Who’s Sir Feltsman?” 

 

Viktor settled back against the headboard and gathered a spare blanket around his shoulders. He sat with his legs crossed and played with his toes as he touched on his plan. “He was my old teacher. I ended up leaving him before I was done with my studies. Let’s just say we had some, artistic differences.”

 

Yuuri paused to think about the plan. It was insane. What if they interrogated him and he accidentally called him Viktor instead of Pendragon? Would he be able to just waltz up to the castle? “I’m not sure Viktor. What if they don’t believe me? I… I have to admit that I’m frightened to go by myself.”

 

“Oh don’t worry! I’ll follow you, just in case. I couldn’t stand it if something bad were to happen to you.” Viktor reached out a hand as if to grab at Yuuri’s before he realized what he was doing and pulled it back into his lap.

 

“Alright, I’ll do it.” Yuuri wasn’t a wizard. He wasn’t strong. But if he could help out in this small way, then he would do it. For Viktor.

 

“Excellent!” Viktor climbed out of his bed and held out a hand to help Yuuri up from his chair. He grabbed an envelope from his side table before turning back to the elderly man. “But first, you should probably change. Those clothes are too plain to go to the castle.”

 

“What’s wrong with my clothes? They are perfectly fine, thank you very much,” Yuuri puffed out his chest indignantly as he walked out of Viktor’s room.

 

Viktor looked over Yuuri’s body with concentration. “At least let me cast some magic on it. I can make the fabric finer; maybe some blue to bring out your eyes?”

 

“My eyes?” Yuuri looked back at Viktor in confusion. “What’s so special about my eyes?”

 

Viktor gave a small smile as he looked at the older man. “They’re so warm. Welcoming. Like coming home to the smell of chocolate chip cookies.”

 

Yuuri couldn’t help but laugh. “Viktor, you are a silly man. Okay, if you really want to doctor up my clothes, you can.”

 

Viktor’s face was filled with joy as he took both of Yuuri’s hands. “I thought you’d never ask! Here, let’s go to the living room. We’ll have more space there.”

 

Once they got back to the living room Viktor made Yuuri stand in the middle while he circled the man. Suddenly he felt a cool tingle on his legs. Looking down he saw that his pants had begun to shimmer as Viktor started to work his magic. The sparkles worked their way up to encase his torso. Yuuri was almost blinded by the light. Finally the magic died down. When it was gone Yuuri looked down to examine the work Viktor had done.

 

His boots were shined and free of their dirty cleaning residue. His pants were no longer made of the threadbare brown cotton, but a soft and smooth black slack fabric. His shirt was the biggest change. The dull green linen had transformed into a satin royal blue fabric. It gave a small shine in the light. He ran his old withered hands across the fabric. It was the softest material he had ever felt; and that's saying something since he worked in a hat shop.

 

“I… Thank you, Vitya.” He smiled up at the silver haired wizard who returned the gesture. 

 

Their tender moment was quickly interrupted by the front door slamming open. Yurio came in from the Porthaven door with a basket full of food. “Oh good. You’re awake.” He paused as he looked awkwardly between the two adults. “Did I miss something? When did you get those clothes?”

 

“I changed them for him. Yurio,” Viktor gave a commanding tone. “Go grab Yuuri’s cane.”

 

“And my hat, please?” Yuuri asked the young boy who had scurried off to grab the items.

 

“Wait, what?” Viktor gasped as Yurio handed him the straw hat. “You’re wearing that hat? Even after all of the magic I used to make your outfit so pretty.”

 

Yuuri grunted, dissatisfied, as he shoved the hat on his head and grabbed the envelope Viktor was handing to him. “Take care of him, Yurio,” he ordered as he turned towards the door. 

 

“Good luck!” Viktor shouted as he put up a hand to stop Yurio from following.

 

Just as Yuuri was about to head into Kingsbury, he was stopped by Viktor’s hand on his. Viktor had gracefully flew behind the older man. He carefully grabbed his hand and slipped a simple ring on his index finger. The ring had minimal engravings with a single magenta stone inlaid at the top. “This charm will guarantee your safe return,” he whispered as he released Yuuri’s hand.

 

He turned slowly to face the wizard. An unknown feeling was fluttering in his chest that made his cheeks warm up. Viktor had a look of mischief in his eyes. “Don’t worry, I’ll follow behind you in disguise.” He quickly opened the door for Yuuri. “Now. Off you go.” The door slammed behind him with a sense of finality.

 

And with that, Yuuri was on a mission.

 

He looked down at the ring before he started moving. “Why do I feel like this is not going to work? Oh right, Katsuki. Because you are an anxious mess of a human being.” He took one last breath, set his shoulders, and started walking.

 

Once he had moved far away enough from the castle, he found himself looking at the living things in his surroundings with a new sense of curiosity. “I wonder what Viktor disguised himself as? Surely not a crow,” he commented as a murder flew buy.

 

He continued walking when he found himself at the town square. In the middle was a large statue of the king’s grandfather. Around the monument soldiers stood guard as tourists and townspeople gathered around. Atop the statue a few pigeons sat grooming themselves. “Can’t be a pigeon,” he commented aloud. “He’s too flamboyant for that.” 

 

The pigeons soon got startled by a low flying singles plane that was piloted by a soldier. Behind him a young girl was laughing, obviously enjoying the man’s show offy behavior. “That could be him,” he drawled as he pushed forwards.

 

After a half an hour walk, he finally found himself at the gates of the castle. In front of the arch stood several soldiers who kept guar. Yuuri walked past them with ease, showing them the official envelope in his hands as a ticket of invitation.

 

Once past the archway he stopped and sighed. It looked like there was another two hundred yards he had to walk in order to even make it to the steps of the palace. “Look how far I still have to go,” he complained before continuing forward.

 

As he started walking he noticed a small brown poodle walking in his direction. While he was sorely tempted to pet the cute dog, he pressed forwards; not wanting to stop his progress. However as he continued walking, he noticed the poodle had begun to follow him. Yuuri gazed down at the small dog with suspicion. 

 

“Viktor. You disguised yourself as an old dog?” The dog in question gave a small puff in reply.

 

Yuuri grumbled under his breath. “You couldn’t think of something a bit more useful? Do you know how hard it is to do things when you’re old?”

 

Before the old dog could respond, Yuuri noticed a vehicle start to pull up besides him. Upon further investigation, Yuuri realized that the vehicle belonged to none other than The Witch of the Wastes herself. There was no doubt about it. Her tar men were towing the vehicle along; he would never forget their expressionless faces.

 

His suspicions were confirmed when the curtain of the vehicle was pulled back to reveal the witch’s large head. “Look who’s here. The tacky little girl from the hat shop.” The woman smirked behind her heavy face of makeup and large furs.”

 

“The Witch of the Wastes,” Yuuri whispered under his breath, risking a glance down at dog-Viktor.

 

“Thank you for handing my scorching love note to Viktor.”

 

Yuuri continued to look forward. He couldn’t be goaded on by this old crone. However she wasn’t taking no for an answer. “How’s he doing by the way?” she asked.

 

“He’s acting like a big baby,” Yuuri replied. It wasn’t exactly a lie. And besides, he needed to keep up the charade for as long as possible; even in front of this witch. “And he’s working me to the bone as his cleaning man.” Again, not exactly a lie. But he was the one who insisted on offering his cleaning services.

 

The witch gave a dark chuckle. “How delightful.” Unfortunately for Yuuri, the woman was not done with him yet. “So tell me; what business do you have at the palace?”

 

_ Oh come on lady, why can’t you just leave me alone?  _ He cried internally. But he didn’t have much time to think. “Job hunting,” he decided on. “I’m sick of working for Viktor.” Hopefully Viktor would understand that he was only saying all of this for the witch’s benefit. “And what about yourself?” He needed to draw the attention away from himself before she started to see the holes in his story.

 

Fortunately the witch was excited to take up any opportunity to talk about herself. “I received a royal invitation,” she answered smugly. “That idiot Feltsman finally realized how much he needs my powers.”

 

Yuuri glared at the witch from the corner of his eye. “If you’re so great why don’t you break the spell you put on me?”

 

“I’m sorry dear,” she sneered, peering down her nose at the old man. “My talent lies in casting spells, not breaking them.”

 

Done with the conversation, the witch pulled the curtain closed as she cackled, “Bye gramps.” And with that, the carriage sped forwards; leaving Yuuri in the dust.

 

“Now just wait a minute!” Yuuri shouted, shaking his cane at the retreating carriage. “You get back here right now!” 

 

However the carriage was just too fast for his short old legs to take him any farther. He was so furious. He couldn’t deny that he felt a small glimmer of hope when he saw the witch. He thought that maybe he could convince her to change her back. Frustrated he turned his attention back to the dog to distract himself. “If I didn’t have you to worry about, I would’ve clobbered her.”

 

As he continued to walk forward he saw the carriage in front of him approach the steps. However just as it was about to reach the steps the two tar men seemed to wither and melt before his eyes. 

 

“What on earth is wrong with you two?” He heard the witch shout from the small confines of her carriage.

 

“Sorry ma’am. Vehicles are prohibited beyond this point,” replied a footman; not sounding sorry at all. “You must continue on foot.” He punctuated the end of his sentence with a click of his spear on the cobblestone.

 

He saw the carriage sway and shake before the Witch of the Wastes emerged from it. Yuuri thought that the vehicle must be magic, because there was no way her gargantuan body would ever be able to fit in that tiny vehicle from natural means.

 

By the time he had reached the steps the witch had only succeeded to climb up five. “Come on, Viktor. We can do this. Just act natural,” he whispered under his breath as he began to climb the stairs.

 

When he didn’t hear the scrape of claws following him he turned around to see the dog remained at the bottom of the steps. “Ugh.” He turned around and went back to pick up the dog. Once he grabbed him he immediately regretted it. “Oh Viktor. Why are you so heavy?” There was no way he could get them both up these stairs.

 

But, he didn’t have any other choice. He began to waddle as he heaved the two of them up the stairs. Although he was burdened by the dog, he was still making better progress than The Witch of the Wastes. He quickly passed the struggling woman as he continued to ascend the endless flight.

 

“Wait! Help! I can’t make it!” The witch panted behind him.

 

“What’d you say? You - you suddenly remembered how to break the spell you put on me?” Yuuri replied with all the sass he could muster while still forging ahead. He risked a glance behind him to enjoy just how helpless the witch was now.

 

“I told you. I don’t know  _ how!”  _ She exclaimed as she pushed the sentence between pants.

 

He gave her one last indignant look over his shoulder as he shouted. “Then start studying!” Turning back around, he was determined to ignore the witch entirely. If she couldn’t help him, he wouldn’t help her.

 

He heard the witch whine behind him, “I don’t get it! Where does she get all that energy?”

 

He was over halfway up the stairs when he reached his first endurance obstacle. He gently lowered Viktor down to the steps as he panted. “I have to rest a bit,” he breathed, putting his hands on his knees. 

 

Curiosity getting the better of him, he turned around to see the witch’s progress. While Yuuri was over three quarters of the way up the stairs, The Witch of the Wastes had barely cleared the halfway mark. Yuuri felt a pang of pity in his chest when he saw the witch who was practically melting before his eyes. At this rate he doubted she would even reach the top. “Why don’t you just give up? You’re killing yourself!”

 

“I’ve waited… for fifty years to be invited here. Ever since that Feltsman… Banished me to live in the wastes!” The witch’s face morphed into one of sweaty rage. It looked like rain was falling from her big floppy hat from how much perspiration was pouring down her face.

 

“Well, good luck then. Too bad I’m not younger, or I’d lend you a hand,” he offered half heartedly as he bent back down towards the dog. “Come on Vitya.”

 

Once he had Viktor in his grasp once more he continued his trek up the stairs.

 

“You cold hearted old hag.Next time I’ll turn you senile too!”

 

After a couple more minutes of climbing, Yuuri had finally reached the top. He lowered Viktor down in relief as he climbed the last step. Once he reached his destination he doubled over and allowed himself to pant fully. Once he barely caught his breath he turned back to face the witch. At this point everything was so ridiculous. She was still struggling and looked like she would keel over any minute. “Almost there!” He cheered for her. Even though he hated the woman, no one deserved to be treated so poorly.

 

“Honored guest, please follow me,” a polite voice urged him to continue on.

 

Yuuri wasn’t having it. He turned around to face the servant directly. “You should go help her get up these stairs!”

 

“I’m strictly forbidden to offer such assistance.” The look on his face was too passive for Yuuri’s taste.

 

“Why that’s so rude! The king himself invited her.” His chest puffed up with frustration. How could they treat a woman they specifically invited to the palace so poorly?

 

“Come on! Let’s go!” He began to cheer; completely forgetting his earlier frustration with the woman. She was clearly struggling with no one on her side. “Don’t give up now! Are you a witch or aren’t you?” He hoped the words didn’t sound too patronizing coming from him.

 

“Oh just shut up,” the witch leered as she finally reached the top of the stairs.

 

“What happened? You look so much older?” He commented without thinking. Ever since he started living with Viktor he noticed that his verbal filter was all but gone. 

 

When the witch was having trouble even standing up straight, Yuuri handed her his cane. She was obviously in more need of it than he. 

 

Finally they made their way into the palace. “Mrs. Pendragon and The Witch of the Wastes!” A court announcer declared as they made their way through the giant double doors.

 

Behind him he could hear the loud struggling pants of the overweight witch behind him. He turned around with a scowl on his face.“Pull yourself together. Isn’t this what you’ve been waiting for?”

 

“Mrs. Pendragon and the Witch of the Wastes!” Due to Yuuri’s age and the witch’s weight they were struggling to make it down the long runway at the announcer’s prefered pace. Instead of trying to rush forward, however, Yuuri just held his head high and continued on with dignity.

 

As they walked down the long entryway Yuuri couldn’t help but appreciate the decor of the room. Every surface was either a royal blue or a brilliant gold. Candelabras lined the walls every three feet or so. The crown moulding at the ceiling of the room was coated in a leaf gold stain. The floors were different colored marble tiles. They were shined so meticulously that from the corner of his eye he could see the sentry’s reflections in their polished surface. Everything looked old and new at the same time. If he weren’t so anxious about the charade he had to play, or so exhausted by the stairs he just climbed, he probably could have looked at this room for hours.

 

“Your name is Pendragon?” The witch suddenly pulled him from his thoughts. “Why does that name sound so familiar?”

 

“Uh,” Yuuri paused nervously, not thinking he would have to run into this issue so soon. “Because that was the name of my tacky hat shop. Don’t you remember?”

 

“Is that what it was?” Luckily the witch believed him and dropped the subject all together after that.

 

Once they cleared the entrance hall they were escorted into a lush waiting area. “Wait in here, please.”

 

The room itself was barely furnished. In fact there was only a single chair seated in the middle of the room. “Ah ha! A chair! It’s mine!” The witch wasted no time in rushing over for sweet relief. Once the witch was seated Yuuri began to look around passively. 

 

This room was covered in rich reds. The walls were made of the most gorgeous mahogany he had ever seen. Upon each panel there were different paintings all hung in a row. Their golden frames all matched, but had such subtle differences that the artistry could truly be seen. A large low lit chandelier hung from the ceiling above them. Below was a plush persian rug that spanned almost the entire room.

 

As he continued to observe his surroundings he noticed a brown fluff ball retreat down a hallway away from him. “VIktor! Get back here!” He scolded the dog in a hushed tone as he followed after it.

 

Right as he stepped into the small hallway, a fake panel in the wall opened up to reveal a young blonde boy standing in what looked to be an elevator. “This way please, sir,” the boy stepped aside as he beckoned in the older gentleman. Seeing that he had no other choice, he stepped in.

 

Once they stepped out of the elevator, he was escorted into a large botanical garden. The lush green plants almost reached the ceiling which was made of glass. The walls were made of he biggest windows he had ever seen. He heard birds twittering in the distance along with a babbling stream. It was all so beautiful.

 

In the middle of the room was a high backed wheelchair that held a distinguished looking older man. He held a tall staff in one hand as he finished his business with the men in suits who were finishing their conversation. Once the men left, the young boy went to the man in the chair and whispered something in his ear. Yuuri stayed in the background and waited to be called on. He started to fidget with the hem of his shirt in a nervous habit that he never really broke.

 

The man finished signing something before he turned his face to slightly face Yuuri. “So, you are Viktor’s father, are you?” He asked, finally addressing Yuuri.

 

“Y-yes. I’m Mr. Pendragon,” he stuttered in response. Even though the man seemed calm, he gave off an intimidating aura that made Yuuri uneasy.

 

“You must be tired. Please, have a seat.” The man gestured to the chair that stood across from him for Yuuri to sit.

 

He nodded his head in acknowledgement as he walked over to the chair. “Thank you.”

 

“I am Sir Feltsman. His majesty’s head sorcerer.” He began to address Yuuri fully now that he was seated across from him.

 

Yuuri wanted to pay full attention, but his gaze dropped to a familiar dog that was sprawled underneath Sir Feltsman’s side table. “That’s not your dog is it?” He asked, pointing at the dog he had earlier assumed was Viktor.

 

“His name is Makkachin. He’s my errand dog. I had him escort you here.” Yuuri couldn’t help but sigh as he was told the truth.  _ So I lugged that heavy dog up all of those stairs for nothing? _

 

Feltsman wanted to continue on with the conversation, however.  “I take it Viktor won’t be joining us?”

 

Yuuri perked up a bit at the mention of Viktor. He was finally able to actually play his part and he was ready to get it done and over with.“He’s such a lazy son, he sent me instead. I’m afraid the king would find him completely useless.” Yuuri tried to give as convincing a show as he could. He thought back to his temper tantrum the day before for inspiration. He drooped his shoulders and shook his head with a look of disappointment. 

 

“I’m very sorry to hear that. Vitya was the last apprentice I took on.” The man paused, seemingly lost in a far away memory. “I’ve never seen such a gifted student. I was so thrilled to have finally found someone talented enough to replace me.”

 

“Then one day the idiot got his heart stolen by a demon. He never returned to finish his apprenticeship. And from that day he’s been using his magic for entirely selfish reasons.” Yuuri sat up straight while trying to school his face into a neutral expression. No matter what he said, Yuuri had to convince this man not to expect Viktor. If he needed to degrade him like that, then he would bite his tongue.

 

“Mr. Pendragon,” Feltsman’s tone shifted into something harsher. Almost dangerous. It startled Yuuri.

 

“Yes?” He asked trying not to sound too nervous.

 

“That boy is extremely dangerous. His powers are far too great for an idiot without a heart.” Yuuri felt his face drop a bit as he started to understand what this man was saying; he didn’t like it. Not one bit.  “If he stays selfish, I’m afraid he’ll end up just like The Witch of the Wastes.” Sir Feltsman turned his head to where Yuuri had entered before giving the command, “Send her in.”

 

Yuuri turned at the sound of squeaky wheels entering the room. The sight he saw made him feel like he was going to be sick. The Witch of the Wastes was pushed in on a cart. Her body looked like nothing more than a wrinkled, dull husk of what it used to be. Her stare was vacant. Her clothes barely hung onto her paper thin skin. “Oh!” Yuuri exclaimed as he rushed over to the woman. “What on earth happened to you?”

 

“I just restored her to the age she actually is. All her powers are gone now.” Yuuri looked at the sorcerer in shock. The Witch of the Wastes was a terrible person. But this…. This was beyond cruel.

He continued, not missing a beat. “Once, she too was a magnificent sorcerer with so much promise. But then she fell prey to a demon of greed who slowly consumed her; body and soul. Our kingdom can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to these disreputable witches and wizards.”

 

“If Viktor returns to me and vows to use his magic for the kingdom I will show him how to break from his demon.” Yuuri felt his heart drop as he listened to what he had to say. It all made him sick.  “If not, I’ll strip him of all his powers; just like her.” 

 

That was the last straw.

 

“THAT IS ENOUGH!” Yuuri roared, standing up to his full height. He was tired of sitting here passively and listening to Feltsman’s cruel words; as if he truly understood Viktor. As if he truly understood his Vitya. 

“Now I understand why Viktor was so concerned about coming to see you. It’s a trap! You lure people here with an invitation from the king, and then you strip them of all their powers.” Even though the situation was heavy, Yuuri felt himself lighten. As he stood there he felt himself stand taller. His glasses started to slip off of his shrinking nose. 

 

His voice rose to its normal pitch as he continued his rant.“Viktor would never be so heartless. He may be selfish and cowardly, and sometimes he’s hard to understand; but his intentions are _ good.  _ He just wants to be free.” He set his brows as he finished his thoughts. What he wouldn’t give at that moment to be a wizard. To be able to throw some sort of spell at this spiteful man. “Vitya won’t come here! He doesn’t need your help! He can fix his problem with his demon on his own! I’m certain of it!” Yuuri was left panting at the end of it all, but his chest felt lighter than it had in days.

 

“Now I understand,” Sir Feltsman smirked. “You’re in love with Vitya.”

 

“YOU DO NOT GET TO CALL HIM THAT!” He shouted before he gasped and shrunk back into himself, feeling heavy once more. He needed to uphold a charade here and he was quickly losing it; if he hadn’t lost it already. 

 

At the mention of Viktor’s name the witch besides him stirred for the first time; leaning over and clutching at his pants. “Viktor? Did you say Viktor’s coming? I want his heart! His heart belongs to me!”

 

Yuuri struggled to untangle the frail old witch from his legs. “Stop that and calm down. Viktor is not coming here, okay?”

 

“Oh but I think he will.” The smirk upon his face continued to grow at an unsettling rate. “I now know his weakness,  _ Mr. Pendragon.” _

 

As Feltsman continued to smile at Yuuri a loud buzzing could be heard from outside. Looking out at the wall of windows a singular small plane could be seen landing gracefully. Atop the plane was none other than the crown prince himself. His fiery red hair curling around his face. His big bushy mustache stood out, even from the distance. Once the plane was shut off the prince walked with purpose towards a glass door that lead to the internal garden.

 

Sir Feltsman dipped his head politely in acknowledgement of the newcomer. “Your majesty.”

 

“As you were,” the prince said as he waved a dismissive hand at the gesture. “So then, how are you feeling?”

 

“I’m fine,” Feltsman grunted, giving the prince a neutral stare.

 

“I thought I’d drop by; rather than sit through a dull war meeting.”

 

“What an honor,” Feltsman chuckled at the prince. Clearly this was a regular occurrence.

 

The prince finally turned towards Yuuri and the witch. “Who are your guests?”

 

“This is Viktor’s father, Mr. Pendragon,” Sir Feltsman looked around the prince to glare at Yuuri. Yuuri tried to ignore it as he gave the prince a small bow in appreciation. Yes, the charade was obviously over.

 

“Ah. Thanks for coming. But I’ve decided not to use magic to win this war.” Yuuri couldn’t help but give the prince a confused stare. The prince however, continued. “We have tried to use our magic to shield Sir Feltsman’s palace from the enemy’s bombs, but the bombs fall on civilian homes instead.”

 

Abruptly the prince turned back towards the powerful sorcerer in front of them. “That’s the problem with magic, right Feltsman?”

 

“You’re so eloquent today, your majesty.” As Feltsman finished, Yuuri blanched to see a shadow of the smirk return to his features.

 

Suddenly a door leading to the interior of the palace burst open. Yuuri whipped his head towards the noise and felt his stomach drop. Here he was. The  _ real  _ crown prince. Oh they were in trouble. 

 

“FELTSMAAAANNN!” He shouted as he strutted into the room. He began to brandish papers in the air as he  shouted, “I’ve got a new battle plan! This time we’re gonna beat ‘em to a pulp!” Finally realizing that there was a double of him in the room, the prince gave him a once over before bellowing out in laughter.  “HAHAHA! Feltsman that’s the best double you’ve made of me yet! Keep up the good work!” 

 

“Your majesty,” Feltsman tipped his head at the real prince.

 

“Get my generals assembled!” The prince shouted at some hidden hand men as he left the room as quickly and loudly as he came.

 

An awkward silence permeated the room. Feltsman and prince Viktor were in a stare off. Finally Feltsman broke the quiet. “So nice to see you again, Vitya.”

 

Yuuri barely stifled a grimace at his use of the familiar nickname.  _ You hold no love for him in your heart. How DARE you use his name like that.  _ Yuuri thought seething. 

 

Viktor, to his credit, was unfazed. “You’re looking well, Sir Feltsman.”

 

“Rather weak disguise. Didn’t I teach you better?” The playful tone would have normally made Yuuri drop his guard if he didn’t know what malice lie underneath.

 

Viktor transformed back into his silver haired self before his eyes. “I’m not trying to out wit you. I kept my oath. I reported when summoned. Now  _ father  _ and I will go.” Viktor quickly wrapped an arm around Yuuri’s shoulders protectively. His cautious nature had him prepped for the worst. He readied them to leave at any moment.

 

“I’m afraid not,” Feltsman said with a click of his staff against the floor. Yuuri’s eyes widened as he saw a small portal open underneath the staff. Water began to pour from it and flooded around them. However when Yuuri took a breath in shock, his lungs filled with cool air rather than water. 

 

Suddenly Viktor, Yuuri and the witch were standing afloat in the air. Yuuri heard and felt the witch struggle to hold onto his pant leg. “Now, whatever you do don’t look down,” ordered Viktor calmly. Yuuri struggled to keep his breathing even. He knew that panicking now would only hurt them. He had to stay strong for Viktor.

 

Sir Feltsman’s face appeared in the sunset sky in front of them. It looked the size of a hot air balloon. “It’s time to show your  _ father  _ what you really are, Viktor.” His voice reverberated around them before disappearing once more.

 

Yuuri looked at the stars that started to shine in the sky. The scenery really was quite beautiful, even though they would probably die because of it. As the stars shone brighter some started to fall from the sky around them. Yuuri looked around and noticed the stars had fallen in a circle around them. Slowly the stars sprouted wispy bodies. Once they were fully formed they began to chant a bone chilling song as they continued to circle the three victims in the middle. 

 

As the song continued, Yuuri felt Viktor’s hand tremble around his shoulder. When he looked at it, there was no longer a hand. Instead a set of large silver talons gripped at his shoulder. When Yuuri looked up at Viktor’s face in shock, he saw his face contorted in pain as he was forced to transform into a tremendous bird of prey. His teeth were turning into fangs. He groaned in pain as feathers sprouted where his hair used to be. 

 

Yuuri had to stop it. He shoved his hands onto Viktor’s face as if he was trying to shove the feathers back into his skull. “STOP VITYA, IT’S A TRAP!” He pleaded. 

 

His pleas seemed to reach Viktor as just just then he wrapped an arm around his torso and heaved them all away from the scene. The force of the flight made Yuuri’s old hat fly off of his hat. Up. Up. Up they flew until Viktor covered Yuuri’s head to brace them for the impact of glass. He could feel the brush of magical forces licking at their heels; trying to force them back into Sir Feltsman’s clutches.

 

Viktor folded his wings back into his body as he lowered them down onto the awaiting plane. “Hold on!” He shouted as the engine kicked to life. They felt the plane jostle a bit as they took off. Turning around, Yuuri saw that Makkachin had stowed away on their plane.There was no time to push him off. They were already too high. 

 

Once Viktor had them coasting in the air he turned towards Yuuri as he continued to steer.  “Yuuri, sit up here,” he ordered. Yuuri carefully clambered up to the  seat at the front of the aircraft. Once he was situated Viktor risked a glance at their two stowaways.“Did you have to bring those two with you?”

 

Yuuri turned to glare at the dog who gave a soft boof in response.“Ugh. I can’t believe you work for Feltsman,” he sneered at the poodle. He sighed as he addressed Viktor. “I guess it’s too late to toss them.”

 

“Yuuri! Take the wheel!” Viktor demanded as a low buzzing began to approach them.

 

Yuuri looked at Viktor with fear in his eyes. This man was insane. “WHAT!?!? I CAN’T FLY! ARE YOU KIDDING?”

 

“They’re gaining on us!” Viktor ignored his pleas, handing the small steering wheel to Yuuri. “I’ll distract them. Then you can fly this thing back to my castle in the wastes.”

 

“How?! I don’t know the way!” Yuuri stuttered as he waved his hands in front of his face.

 

Viktor leaned his torso into Yuuri’s back. “Hey, don’t worry! The ring I gave you will guide you back home. All you have to do is summon Calcifer with your heart.”

 

Yuuri looked down at the ring in confusion. “Calcifer?” He gave it a shot. He thought of the sarcastic fire and how he just wanted to return to his nice chair and simple cleaning. As if the ring could hear his thoughts, it began to glow a bright orange. “It’s glowing!” Once it had reached its peak brightness a small beam pointed out of it and directed them towards the wastes.

 

He saw Viktor nod out of the corner of his eye. “Just keep following that light and you should be there before dark.”

 

“I can’t do this! Why did you make me come here if you were coming yourself?” Yuuri glared at Viktor for all of the trouble he had been put through. He had to face The Witch of the Wastes again, climb the world's tallest stairs (all while carrying a dog) and face Sir Feltsman all on his own. He gripped at the steering wheel in frustration; glaring forward to try and see where they were going.

 

“Knowing you’d be there gave me the courage to show up. That man terrifies me! I can’t face him on my own!” He leaned in closer, his lips almost touching Yuuri’s ear. “You saved me, Yuuri. I was in biiig trouble back there.”

 

While Yuuri was distracted, Viktor finally let go of the steering wheel, forcing Yuuri to take full control. “WAHHHH! DON’T LET GO!” He shouted as the plane started to veer out of control. The plane started to nose dive as he lost control of it. Screaming, he pulled back up on the wheel to force it to climb upwards once more. However, once they started to rise, they were faced with a tall bell tower. By some act of pure luck Yuuri was able to navigate the ship through the small opening in the top of the tower; barely clipping the wings in the process.

 

Viktor started to laugh at the close call. “Wow! You’re good!”

 

“ARE YOU NUTS!?” Yuuri wanted to turn and face him head on, but at the moment he had barely gained control of the plane. It was almost steady and he wanted to keep it that way.

 

“We’ve got a good lead now. I can give you five minutes of invisibility, so use it wisely.” With barely a beat for Yuuri to absorb this information, Viktor lifted one arm in front of himself and gave a sharp wave to the side. Once the gesture was finished an exact duplicate of the plane they were flying appeared next to them. Viktor started to fly with the fake plane as Yuuri noticed his own plane had a foggy aura about it.

 

“VITYA!!” He shouted as the weight left their plane. The sudden weight change made their aircraft sink down and bounce off of the top of the trees. 

 

Yuuri risked one last look back at the crazy man who shouted, “GOOD LUCK!”

 

Once he balanced out the plane, they drifted out of the city limits. With Viktor drawing attention away from the real aircraft, they made it out of Kingsbury safe and sound.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

While Viktor and Yuuri fled Feltsman’s goons in the sky, more action against them was happening on land. Feltsman had sent forces to both of Viktor’s shops in Kingsbury and Porthaven. They each pounded on the doors until they flew off their hinges. The soldiers stormed into the separate shops to find similar views. Both of them were desolate ruins inside. No one had inhabited these physical shops for ages.

 

Two things were certain: Feltsman had no more leads and Viktor’s castle needed to move. 

 

And Fast.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

After a few hours of flying they hit a storm. While Yuuri was chilled to the bone, he knew they couldn’t afford to stop until they reached the castle. At the moment it looked as if they were approaching the last town before the wastes. The beam guiding them home still shone brightly.  _ At this rate we should be home within the hour,  _ Yuuri thought with another shiver.

 

When Yuuri took a closer look at the town he couldn’t help but gasp. “We’re almost there! That’s my home town below us!”

 

Makkachin gave a soft bark in response. Yuuri glared back at the dog as he said, “Don’t try and be cute dog. I’m still not going to trust you.” If Yuuri had one weakness it was dogs, and this cute brown poodle could very well be his downfall.

 

As they flew over the town the rain stopped and Yuuri was able to see his town glitter in all of its glory. He could faintly hear the bell tower chime below.  _ Now is about the time that the bakery would close, _ he thought with a twinge of nostalgia.  _ I wonder if Phichit is alright. I hope he isn’t too worried about me.  _

 

Of all of his life that he had left behind, the part that caused him the most regret was leaving Phichit. Phichit had always been there for him. Maybe he should have said something to his friend before he left? But then again, he might have never left if he told him.

 

“I’ll see you again soon, Phi. Just hold on.” He sighed as his heart seemed to sink. After everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, in the last few days, he really needed to talk to his best friend. He needed everything to be normal again.

 

But… if everything was normal, would he never see Viktor again? He felt like he should regret the spell being cast upon him; but he couldn’t. If he had never been cursed, he would have never met Viktor. No, he met Viktor. He would have never met  _ Vitya _ . His Vitya, the quiet man with self doubt. His Vitya, the man who still slept with stuffed animals. His Vitya, the man whose eyes and voice sparkled whenever he said Yuuri’s name.

 

No, Yuuri couldn’t regret this. He couldn’t regret it one bit.

 

Lost in thought, Yuuri almost didn’t see the hulking form of the castle quickly approaching. Yuuri perked up as he saw it move towards them. “The castle is coming to meet us!”

 

But Yuuri was approaching fast. Too fast. “Yuuri! Over here!” He saw Yurio waving out of a side balcony.

 

“Help Yurio! I don’t know how to stop this thing!” But Yurio was never given the chance to answer as the castle had seemed to decide for them. The mouth of it opened up and swallowed them whole. When the plane reached the back of the throat they crashed through it and straight into the living room. Brick dust clouded around them and planks of wood collapsed. The engine of the plane kept going until the wings became jammed by the piles of debris. Once it stopped moving completely, Yuuri began to extract himself from the aircraft and descended down the pile of rubble. “Yurio! I’m home!” He sang as he stumbled down towards the boy.

 

“Are you hurt?” The boy fussed as he climbed up to meet him. Just as Yuuri slid down the remainder of the pile, Yurio latched his arms around his waist. “It’s not like I was worried or anything,” he mumbled into Yuuri’s shirt.

 

If Yuuri could feel two distinct wet spots where Yurio’s eyes met his shirt, he would never tell. “Aww I missed you too. Thanks for meeting us.” Yuuri returned the hug after throwing the damaged steering wheel behind him.

 

“Is no one going to ask how I’m doing? You did just fly a plane into my castle, ya know?” Calcifer broke the moment as he struggled to move unburnable debris off of him.

 

“Yes, I’m sorry Calcifer. I’ll try to be more careful the next time I land a plane in your face.” Yuuri felt the shaking of laughter coming from Yurio as he sarcastically replied to the dry fire.

 

When Yurio detached himself from Yuuri’s waist he shot a glance at the two newcomers. “Who the hell is this old hag and that rat?”

 

“Ah, yes. This would be The Witch of the Wastes and Sir Feltsman’s dog,” Yuuri said nonchalantly as he shook his head at the ridiculousness of it all. Two of the last people you would expect to ever be allowed in their house were right here.

 

Yurio jumped back with disgust written on his face. “WHAT?!?! WHY THE HELL DID YOU BRING THEM HERE OLD MAN?”

 

“I didn’t have a choice! They just sort of clung to me!” Yuuri started waving his hands nervously at the boy in an attempt to calm him. “But don’t worry. Viktor know’s they’re here.”

 

That didn’t seem to help at all. Instead Yurio changed from frightened to furious. “HE WHAT? WHY? THAT IDIOT IS GOING TO GET US KILLED!”

 

Yuuri drooped his shoulders as the young boy continued to scream at him. “It’s fine, Yurio. She has lost all of her powers, so she’s harmless. And, well, Makkachin’s just a dog.”

 

“Well don’t blame me when Feltsman storms in here and kills us all,” Yurio grumbled and crossed his arms as he walked out of the rubble.

 

Yuuri sighed as he moved to help the witch from the wreckage. “Okay okay point taken. Now, help me get something set up for us to sleep tonight. I’m exhausted.”

 

The two of them struggled to unearth the couch Yuuri had been sleeping on. Once they put it next to Calcifer they settled the witch onto it. Yurio ran upstairs to get some extra blankets to make a makeshift futon on the floor for Yuuri. 

 

“You sure you’re going to be okay on that floor old man?” Yurio asked as Yuuri settled into his futon.

 

Yuuri gave Yurio a warm smile as the youth stood at the base of the stairs. “I’m not that old, Yurio. Good night.”

 

Yurio nodded before heading upstairs and saying, “Night.”

 

The fire crackled dimly in the now dusty living room, casting shadows across Yuuri’s body. He stared up at the ceiling in worry. He worried about Viktor the most. Why wasn’t he back yet? Had something happened to him? What if Feltsman caught up to him? It was all his fault that Viktor got into this mess in the first place. If he knew some magic, maybe he could have helped in some way.

 

He looked at the ring on his finger one last time before falling into a fitful sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, you can find me on tumblr at bluetrekskates.tumblr.com!! <3
> 
> And Happy holidays!!!


	7. Bad Omens

Late that night Viktor returned, almost a shadow of himself. His winged arms hung limply at his sides, his bangs were matted and soiled against his face. His feet were still in their taloned form. Blood marked where he walked as it dripped from his wings and stuck to his feet. The sound was wet as the bloodied limbs carried him towards the stairs. An aura of darkness followed him as he slowly worked his way up to his room.

“Oh this is bad Viktor. You’ve gone too far this time,” Calcifer hissed as he watched his friend stumble by.

At the creek of a door closing Yuuri woke with a start. He felt lighter than normal despite the dread that resided in his chest.”I wonder if Viktor is home?” Looking down he saw the smeared footprints of a bird Viktor. Yuuri reached out a hand to grab a silver feather that lay on top of what looked to be blood. As soon as he pinched it in his fingertips, the feather disintegrated into ash.

He gasped as he drew his hand away. This is bad. This is really bad. He thought as he looked at the long and messy trail Viktor left. He couldn’t look over the gnawing feeling in his stomach. He gathered his hair into a messy ponytail and searched for his boots so his feet didn’t get blood on them. Lighting his candlestick he kept by his bedroll, he started to follow the bloody trail. 

The farther along the trail he went, the messier it seemed to get. Once he reached the stairs his face looked in horror upon them. There was blood smeared on the floor and along all of the walls. More patches of feathers were gathered on the ground the further up he looked. Looking up into the darkness, he gathered the edge of his nightgown and carefully ascended the stairs.

Once he reached the top his first instinct was to check the bathroom. Viktor always liked to relax from a long journey by taking a steaming bath. However when he reached the bathroom he was shocked to find it dark and cold. 

Upon further observation, he found the trail continued up the second set of stairs; his room. Yuuri sped forward. The anxiety crawling in his gut started to choke him. He took the next set of stairs two at a time. But the longer he went up, the longer the steps seemed to become. I don’t remember the stairs being this tall. He started to panic. Have they always been this tall?

Finally he reached the top of the stairs. Only now he was faced with an endless hallway. He took a deep and steadying breath to center himself. Come on Katsuki. You won’t be of any use to Viktor if you have a panic attack. He thought as he started to walk down the hallway. 

But still, it continued on for too long. He just needed to reach Viktor’s room. Once he reached the room everything would be okay. His walking turned into speed walking. Turned into jogging. It almost turned into running, but he was still careful of his candle stick. 

Just as he was about to ditch the stick in order to sprint, he all but ran face first into a door. He stopped for a minute to catch his breath. Once his breathing was steady, he slowly creaked open the door.

But when he opened that door, he wasn’t in Viktor’s room. 

Before him was a long tunnel. It looked like it’s base might have been made of dirt at one time. But now there were millions of toys and trinkets inlaid in the soil. Yuuri gave himself a mental pat on the back for bringing his shoes, or else he would have never been able to walk down the tunnel. 

“Well, I’ve already done so many crazy things for Viktor. What difference does one more thing make?” He mumbled as he began his trek down the tunnel. 

If he weren’t more worried, he might have been fascinated with the tunnel around him. He thought he vaguely recognised toys from Viktor’s room. “I wonder if this is what his room turns into when he’s a bird?” He said to no one.

Eventually he came to a split. At first he wanted to panic, not knowing which road to take. But then he closed his eyes and listened for any signs of life down either side. After a brief moment he heard wheezing breath come from far down the left tunnel. When he heard that sign of Viktor, he almost broke into a sprint.

But he continued at his steady pace, occasionally tripping over an odd jewelry box here and there. The further down this hall he got, he noticed the toys and trinkets started to become sparse. Broken feathers and blood splatters took their place.

At seeing the increase of blood Yuuri felt the familiar panic rise in his chest again. His breath started to quicken to a stifling rate. He began to stumble as he increased his pace. His vision blurred from the tears that threatened to fall. Oh please, he pleaded in his mind. Please please be okay. I need you to be okay. 

And then,

He saw him.

Or at least he assumed it was him. The creature in front of him no longer resembled a man. The only way he knew it was him was the signature silver-grey feathers and the faint smell of rose and peppermint from underneath the iron of blood.

“Viktor, is that you?” Yuuri slowly approached the figure. “Are you in pain? Tell me what’s happening!”

“Go away,” a deep and rattling voiced wheezed.

“No I’m not going away!” He shouted moving even closer. “I’m going to help you break this spell you’re under!”

Suddenly the mass of feathers began to move. A large and fierce beak with teeth protruded from a mass of feathers. Blood dribbled down as it spoke. “You,” it wheezed. “You can’t even break your own spell.”

“No, Viktor, you don’t understand! I love you!” Tears started to fall from his eyes then. He went to reach a comforting hand towards the broken mass of feathers.

Just as he was about to touch him, Viktor pulled up to his full, fearsome height. “No. You’re too late,” He growled. And with that he flew down into the nothingness of the tunnel.

Yuuri felt the weight slam back down on him quicker than it ever had before. “VITYA NO!!!”  
He screamed in vain. Viktor was long gone. The wind of his departure had snuffed out Yuuri’s candle. 

He continued to scream Viktor’s name as the darkness consumed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is so short! This was the only logical place I could think to cut it :( So think of it as an interlude of sorts
> 
> as always you can find me at bluetrekskates.tumblr.com


	8. Moving Day

Yuuri woke with a start as he heard the telltale sound of the bath running. He was panting as he looked around himself, confused with his surroundings. Nothing seemed to be different from earlier. Except for the fact that when he blacked out he was in a hell hole tunnel and not on his lumpy bedroll.

 

Looking to the floor he saw that the trail of bloody footprints and feathers was gone. His brows drew together in confusion.  _ A dream. It must have been a dream. _

 

Yuuri whipped his head to face the fireplace. “Calcifer, did Viktor just get in?”

 

“Yeah and he looks  _ terrible.  _ You need to figure out how to break the spell we’re under; and fast. We don’t have much more time. I hope you realize that.”

 

He turned back to look at the steps where the blood used to run. “You mean he’ll become a monster? Is that it?,” he whispered, laced with sadness.

 

“I can’t tell you the details of the curse, man. You should know that by now, come on,” he drolled, giving Yuuri a fed up look.

 

Yuuri drew himself up and stormed towards the fire. He was sick and tired of all of these games. “Do you know what Sir Feltsman said?” Yuuri leaned in to glare at the fire, smirking as he pushed it back with his stare. “He said his heart was stolen by a  _ demon.  _ Tell me now. What do you know.”

 

“I’m so sorry,” he replied, not sounding sorry at all. “But that would be confidential information.”

 

Yuuri leaned back with his hands on his hips. This back and forth was getting them nowhere. “What if I dump a bucket of water on you!?”

 

“If you drown me, then Viktor would die too!” Calcifer poked his fiery tongue out at him. Gritting his teeth in frustration, Yuuri pivoted and hastily pulled on his clothes. He needed some air.

 

Walking out of the castle was always a sight. This time they had parked near a cliffside. It was early morning, just before the sun would rise. Yuuri walked out to the edge of the cliff. Before him was a sea of clouds. It looked as though he could simply dive in and drown his troubles. But he couldn’t run away. Not when so many people were depending on him.

 

Even a week ago, the mere thought that others would depend on him so heavily would be enough to send him into a panic. But being around Yurio and Viktor brought out a different side of him.

 

Yurio made him stand up for himself. The youth was constantly bickering with him or yelling at him. While it unnerved him at first, he eventually grew to realize that it was the boy’s way of showing love. Now he could stand up to him as well as anyone could expect.

 

And Viktor… Well, he didn’t have all of his feelings sorted out yet. At this point he was positive that Viktor knew about the curse. He had always given him a look that made him feel stripped to the bone. But not in a way that made him feel vulnerable; in a way that made him feel understood. 

 

Looking back at the castle he saw steam pouring from Viktor’s bathroom window. Yuuri gave a worried sigh as he thought of the day before. Realistically, Viktor had almost  _ died _ . Feltsman, his teacher, had almost killed him in cold blood. He felt a shiver roll up his spine at the thought.

 

As he thought on Viktor, he couldn’t help but think about last night.

 

Logically, he knew it was a dream. What with the never ending stairs and the mile long hallway. Not to mention the gave that replaced Viktor’s room. Even with all of that, something about it felt so…. Real. 

 

He could feel the pain radiating off of Viktor as he huddled in the back of the cave. His wheezes we _real_. The smell of blood was _real._ His fear was _real._ He couldn’t just ignore it.

 

Real or not real, he couldn’t just sit and mope about it. He needed to break both of their spells. He needed to get Feltsman off of their tails.

 

He needed to clean up the living room and fix the gaping hole in the castle.

 

Almost as if the being were made to help him in times of distress, Turnip Head bounced up to Yuuri. He looked up to the scarecrow with a smile. “Hi Turnip head.” Looking back at the castle he sighed. “This isn’t going to be easy. Wait out here while I get everyone ready to go.”

 

Walking back inside, he sighed as he decided to tackle the easiest of the three tasks. He woke up the old witch on the couch and got her ready for the day. “YURIO!” He shouted up the stairs once the old woman was ready.

 

Little footsteps rushed down the all and a mop of bed tangled hair poked through the railing. “Why are you shouting old man!?! It’s too early for that shit!”

 

“Language!” Yuuri scowled at the boy. “We need to clear out all of this rubble and I need your help”

 

The youth grunted as he pulled his head from the railing. “Let me at least grab some bread first.”

 

For once Yuuri couldn’t eat. His stomach was too tied up in knots over the dream he had. Instead he started to work on clearing some of their baskets to use for carrying rubble.“We can make a separate pile for wood pieces that we can give to Cal. Everything else we can take outside.”

 

“Nah. We don’t have to do that,” Yurio mumbled with a piece of bread hanging from his mouth. Taking a brick in his hands he closed his eyes in concentration. Yuuri looked as the boy’s hair started to rise with his magic. Suddenly, with a flash the brick was wrong.

 

Yuuri’s eyes widened as he broke out in a joyful grin. “Oh! Yurio, that’s amazing!” It didn’t matter how much magic he saw, the fact that some people could do this was simply amazing.

 

Yurio scuffed his feet on the ground and blushed. Yuuri could tell he was chuffed.“It’s not that great. It will just be faster this way.”

 

“Still, we should do something else with the bigger pieces,” Yuuri said as he concentrated again on the large pile. “I don’t want you to overexert yourself.” 

 

“Right. Let’s do this.”

 

Yuuri went back outside to flag down Turnip. Turning around he shouted back into the castle. “Yurio, I have an idea. Grab that rope and toss one end through the hole we made.”

 

Once Turnip and Yuuri walked to the damaged end of the castle they worked on getting a pulley system setup. “THIS WAY WE CAN GET ALL OF THE BIG PIECES OUT!” Yuuri shouted up to Yurio. 

 

“Whatever you say, old man!” 

 

Yuuri shook his head as he finished looping his end of the rope around Turnip.

 

An hour later, and with the help of Turnip Head, they had finally cleared out the living room. The only thing left was the plane itself. Yuuri panted and leaned over on his knees. The cleaning was one thing, but pulling all of that lumber and brick was another. “HEY OLD MAN!” Yurio shouted at him. “LET’S SWITCH PLACES FOR THIS ONE!”

 

Yuuri shouted back an affirmation and went back into the castle. Once Yurio, Turnip and even Makka were set to pull the rope Yurio shouted back up,”OKAY READY!.”

“Alright!” Yuuri replied. “Calcifer open it wider!” The jaws of the castle creaked in response.”Here we go!” 

 

Yuuri pushed while the three on the ground pulled, but the plane wasn’t budging. Even the castle started to lean back on it’s feet to try and assist in pulling the foreign body from it’s mouth. Frustrated, Yuuri started to kick at the broken plane. “I said move!” 

 

Suddenly the plane turned back on, as if the kick had sent it into motion. Bouncing and vibrating, it flew itself out of the mouth and crashed into the field in front of the castle, narrowly missing the three on the ground. At the contact the plane simply fell apart. Yurio couldn’t help but burst out laughing at their small victory.

 

Back in the castle, Yuuri stood at the hole with his hands on his hips. “Well. Maybe if we put a curtain up here Viktor won’t notice.” Looking down at the three of them playing, Yuuri interrupted by shouting, “Come on in! It’s time to eat!”

 

Once Yurio was back in the castle and lunch was ready, Yuuri busied himself with feeding The Witch of the Wastes. The woman in question was dazed and looking at Calcifer, who seemed to cower deep into his wood under her stare. “Here,” Yuuri urged with a full spoon. “Want some more?” Slowly the witch accepted his offering, all the while not breaking eye contact with Cal. 

 

Calcifer hissed at Yuuri in disgust. “Don’t feed her! That’s The Witch of the Wastes!”

 

“Oh she’s alright,” Yuuri drawled dismissively as he continued to feed her.

 

Calcifer wasn’t having it. He sunk even lower into his logs as he hissed, “She keeps staring at me. It’s freaking me out.”

 

“What a pretty fire,” the witch commented, dazed, as she continued to stare at the fire.

 

Finally they heard booted feet run down the stairs. Viktor had finally made an appearance looking healthier than he had in days. His hair, though darker, had it’s healthy shine returned to it. He had lost the gauntness Yuuri remembered from the plane. Yuuri’s face broke into a smile as he looked at the kind wizard. “Viktor! Hello.”

 

“Good morning everyone!” Viktor replied, cheerier than he had been since Yuuri had joined the odd family.

 

Yurio stood from where he was eating his lunch. “Viktor! We can keep the dog right? It’s no cat, but it’s better than nothing.”

 

Viktor looked at the poodle in question and the old woman. Shaking his head with a smile he said, “The Witch of the Wastes and Feltsman’s dog are at my table? What possessed you to let them in my house, Calcifer?”

 

“I didn’t let them in! Yuuri crash landed his plane into my face!” Calcifer crossed his arms as he glared at the two intruders.

 

That had finally made him pay attention to the gaping hole in the side of the castle. “He did?” Upon seeing the hole, his face broke into the biggest smile. His eyes closed as he broke into gut wrenching laughter. “AHAHAHA! I knew you’d be a natural pilot!” As he laughed Yuuri felt his stomach flip. He hoped he would never get used to his musical laugh.

 

Turning back to the hole, he saw Turnip Head perched right in the opening. “Looks like we’ve got another addition to the family. You’ve got one nasty curse on you too, now don’t you,” he commented as he looked him up and down. “Seem’s everyone in this family’s got problems.” 

 

The Witch of the Wastes looked back at where Viktor was standing. “What a handsome man.”

 

Viktor whipped around, not seeming to hear the old woman and clapped his hands together. “So! We’ve got a lot of work to do! We’re moving.”

 

“Moving?” Yuuri looked at him in confusion. The castle could move anywhere; what he meant exactly was lost to Yuuri.

 

This news didn’t seem to phase Yurio as he simply commented, “That’s good. I’m sick of being stuck out in the middle of nowhere.”

 

“Sir Feltsman is hot on our trail. So we’re gonna have to hurry.” Viktor turned back to face Turnip Head. For the first time that day a frown creased his face. “Your spell is too strong for this move I’m afraid. We’ll have to leave you behind.”

 

Even though Turnip couldn’t show any emotion, Yuuri could swear that he saw him practically wilt at the words. And his heart went out to the scarecrow, it truly did. But Feltsman was hot on their tails. They needed to do this move as fast as possible.

 

Yuuri went up to Turnip and put a hand on his empty torso. “It’s alright Turnip. You always have a way of finding us. We’ll see you again. I’m sure of it.” Turnip responded by dipping his body in a bow that Yuuri could only assume was a nod of faith. Turnip jumped out of the hole and went to stand at the edge of the cliff.

 

Giving one last sigh Viktor straightened back up with his hands on his hips. Turning back around he made direct eye contact with Yurio. “Right. Yurio. Grab our field markers and let’s get this started.”

 

“Got it.”

 

Lunch all but forgotten Viktor and Yurio got to work making a large diagram out of chalk on the soil below. The circle was as wide as the castle and had several lines and triangles within it. Yuuri wished he knew how magic worked. If he did, he might actually understand what was going on. “Alright Calcifer! Line ‘er up!” Viktor shouted from down below.

 

With a creak the castle moved to sit on top of the diagram. Once it was settled, Viktor and Yurio went back into the castle. 

 

Inside VIktor made all of them sit on top of the table so they were out of the way. He bent down to draw an intricate design on the floor that was just wide enough for him to stand in. “There. That should do it,” he said, mostly to himself. “Now sit tight for a second.” 

 

Pivoting on his foot, he turned towards Calcifer and scooped him up on the shovel that was next to him. “Be gentle with me, please?” He whimpered as Viktor carefully balanced the fire on the shovel and walked towards the circle.

 

“On my mark.” And then Yuuri could feel it. The familiar charge crackled through the air. He could feel it dance across his skin. Viktor raised his free arm out to the side of him in a motion to conjure the spell. His short hair floated around him and what little dust that remained on the ground danced at his motions.

 

Then, without warning, Calcifer flared up bigger and hotter than ever before. He burned a brilliant blue as he shouted in exertion. 

 

Yuuri gasped as the room around him transformed. It looked as though rainbow sparkles danced along every surface. The room rippled as it stretched into a bigger size. Viktor’s feet slowly left the ground as the spell went into full effect. 

 

Hearing a rumbling to the side of him, Yuuri whipped his head to see the hole he had made be sealed up with new brick and a window. The walls changed from a plain paint to a beautiful rose wallpaper. The ceiling rose and grew beams. He heard Yurio gasp in wonder. 

 

Pops could be heard from all over the castle as new rooms grew and formed. Furniture slammed down from thin air. 

 

FInally the spell seemed to die down as Viktor slowly descended back to the ground and Calcifer returned to his original orange color.

 

“Moving Is done. You can get down now,” Viktor said as he put Calcifer back into the fireplace.

 

Yurio jumped down almost instantly and began to run around the expanded living space with an innocence that could only be held by a child. “Look at this Viktor! It’s huge!!”

 

Now that the transformation was complete, Yuuri could finally look around the new living space and take in their surroundings. He felt his brows draw together as he looked upon the new room. Something about this space felt… familiar. As if he had been here his entire life.

 

That was when he heard it. The familiar bell toll from his home town. Quickly he jumped off of the table and rushed towards the window. It was the exact view from the main room at the hat shop; including the train that tumbled by billowing smoke in front of the window. “But this is…” he trailed off. He thought of his family and of Phichit and felt his heart soar. He could see them again.

 

He was pulled out of his thoughts as Viktor opened a door besides him. “I even added a bathroom, since our family seems to keep growing.” 

 

Yuuri looked at the door in shock. He never thought he would be here again. “Come over here Yuuri!” Yuuri followed Viktor’s voice in a daze.

 

“I added another bedroom too. Have a look.”

 

And then he opened it.

 

Yuuri was speechless. The room was his. Not just his as Viktor thought it was, but it was  _ his. _ His workshop. His counter and stool were the same. His favorite window that looked out on the town was the same. Instead of unfinished hats there were boxes that looked like presents. And instead of drawers of fabrics there was a full sized bed for him to sleep on; which also just so happened to be buried in presents.

 

I felt himself lighten as hs slowly walked into the room. There was no way this was real. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He whipped around towards Viktor who was leaning casually in the doorway. “Why did you do this?” He asked with tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

 

“So we’d have a room that suited you. Do you like it?” He smiled fondly at Yuuri.

 

Suddenly it had hit Yuuri. It didn’t matter what he did. He would always be trapped here. In this same little room. Just that same mousy boy. The weight of it fell upon him like a ton of bricks. “Of course,” he replied dully. “It’s perfect for an old man like me.”

 

Whether Viktor noticed the change or not was left to be seen. He simply brushed past it and said, “I got you some new clothes too! But you can open those later.” And with that he was gone.

 

But Yuuri stayed one last moment to look out the window. He would never be free of his boring past. This was where he belonged. He gave a sad chuckle and felt the tears fall out of his eyes. How foolish he was, to think that someone as plain and boring as him was destined for anything great.

 

Viktor wasn’t going to let him sulk though. “Come on Yuuri! Look at this!” He shouted, pulling Yuuri out of his self depreciative thought cycle.

 

“Woah look! A court yard!” Yuuri could hear Yurio shouting from outside.

 

“That shop’s ours too,” Viktor shouted out the door. 

 

Once Yuuri had reached the door Viktor had closed it and turned the small knob. “See that new color on the dial? There’s a new portal.” His face lit up as he opened the door for Yuuri. “It’s a present for you. Come see.”

 

Nothing could prepare him for the beauty of what he was about to see. The sky was crystal blue. The grass was bright green. Delicate wild flowers were scattered throughout the field before him. He heard the babble of creeks in the distance.

 

“Oh…” he gasped as he slowly walked out of the castle and into the field.

 

Viktor took his hand and brought him fully into the field. Turning toward him, he blushed shyly as he asked, “You like it? It’s my secret garden.”

 

Yuuri smiled up at him. “It’s incredible.” Now that he was fully in the middle in the field he dropped Viktor’s hand and slowly turned around to fully take in the beauty that was around him. “Did you use your magic to make this?”

 

Viktor picked up his hand again and lead him over a creek. “Only a little. Just to help the flowers grow.”

 

Once they walked a little farther they came face to face with a lake that was so perfect and pure that they could see the sky perfectly reflected in the glass. It didn’t even look like water; it looked like they were on an island in the sky. The lightness in Yuuri’s chest came back again as he saw it. He couldn’t take it any more. A laugh bubbled up inside of him as he practically skipped towards the lake. “This place is gorgeous Vitya!” He couldn’t help but twirl and feel the breeze flowing through his ponytail. “It’s like a dream.”

 

Yuuri looked back at the water and sighed. This gift. This beautiful sanctuary. This was all for him. As he looked out onto the water he felt himself tear up. Viktor had gone above and beyond today. He couldn’t even begin to think of how to repay him. For the first time since he was cursed, Yuuri felt genuinely young.

 

He was pulled out of his thoughts as Viktor called out to him softly, “Yuuri?”

 

Yuuri looked back at him with a nostalgic smile on his face.“It all feels so familiar, yet I know I’ve never been here before. I feel so, at home.”

 

“Come with me,” Viktor beckoned with his hand outstretched. 

 

“Okay,” he nodded and followed. At this point, he would follow him anywhere. 

 

They walked for a few minutes in comfortable silence; arms linked, slotted together like they belonged there. Yuuri could bathe in this moment and be forever clean. 

 

After a little more walking Viktor pointed to a little house nestled next to the creek. “Look there!” 

 

“What a cute cottage.”

 

Viktor nodded as he lead Yuuri towards it. “That was my secret hideaway. I spent a lot of time here when I was young.”

 

That statement made Yuuri stop in his tracks. “You were alone?” Yuuri’s heart panged at the thought of Viktor spending all of his time in solitude as a child. No one deserved that. 

 

Viktor, however, shrugged it off as if it were nothing. “My uncle gave this to me as my private study. Now you can come here whenever you want.” He turned back around to walk towards the cabin and show it to Yuuri properly, but Yuuri did not follow. Sensing his hesitation, he turned around to face the younger man with worry. “What’s the matter?”

 

Yuuri felt his shoulders shake. A mixture of fear and sadness making it’s way through his body. “It’s… You’re scaring me. I have this weird feeling that you’re going to leave.”  Yuuri cast his eyes down at the flowers below his feet. He couldn’t stand the idea of Viktor leaving him. He snapped his head back up and began to plead with the silver haired man. “Vitya. Tell me what’s going on.  _ Please. _ I don’t care if you’re a monster.”

 

He saw Viktor’s shoulders visibly drop as he slowly walked back towards him. “I’m just setting things up so all of you can live a comfortable life Yuuri. With all the flowers you’ve got in this valley you could easily open up a flower shop.” He put on a face of false happiness that Yuuri saw through right away. “Right? I’m sure you’d be good at it!”

 

Yuuri shook his head at Viktor’s insistence. It distressed him to see Viktor trying to hide his true feelings from him. “So you are going away…” Tears started to flow from his eyes as he looked at this beautifully foolish man. “Please Vitya! I know I can be of help to you. Even though I’m not handsome… and all I’m good at is cleaning.” As he continued to speak, the weight of everything began to descend upon him again. This time it felt even heavier than before.

 

As he felt himself droop he could see Viktor panic as he tried to cheer up the Japanese man. “Yuuri! Yuuri, you’re beautiful!”

 

But it was too late. The curse had it’s full hold upon him once more. “Well the nice thing about being old is you’ve got nothing much to lose.”

 

They didn’t get the chance to dwell any longer on the exchange. They heard a low buzzing in the distance that could only belong to a war ship. Sure enough a giant aircraft rose out of the horizon and across the field; the destruction it promised in stark contrast with the beauty of the field below. “What is that thing doing out here?” Viktor sneered as he looked at the ship with disgust.

 

“A battleship?” Yuuri asked to no one in particular.

 

Viktor shook his head and spoke through gritted teeth. Rage trembling through his body.“Still looking for more cities to burn.”

 

“Is it the enemy’s or one of ours?” Yuuri asked.

 

Viktor simply gave a hollow laugh. “What difference does it make. Those stupid murderers.” Yuuri looked with concern upon Viktor’s face. He felt his blood run cold as a wicked grin creeped across his face. “We can’t just let them fly off with all those bombs.” 

 

With that he rose his arm towards the ship. He gave a strong wave of his arm and Yuuri felt the magical charge surge around them. Once he lowered his arm, a blaring siren sounded in the distance.

 

Yuuri quickly looked back and forth between the ship and Viktor. “What’s happening? What did you do?” He asked frantic, panic rising in his voice.

 

“Just messed with it. It won’t crash though,” he answered through gritted teeth, his arm gripping the one that had cast the spell.

 

Worried, Yuuri looked down at the offending arm and inhaled in shock. His entire arm had turned grey and feathers started to sprout up from the skin. His nails had turned into talons. His entire arm seemed to shake in the effort it took to keep it from transforming completely. “Oh! Vitya, your arm!”

 

Viktor just ignored him. Opting instead to concentrate on the incoming ship. “Uh oh. Here they come.”

 

As if on cue dozens of humanoid figures shot out of the ship, almost as if they were simply amo. The figures sprouted bat like wings and began to soar towards them. “Those things are Feltsman’s henchmen,” Viktor answered his unspoken question. Without warning he grabbed Yuuri by the waist and started to run them towards the entrance to the castle. “Let’s go!” Viktor sprouted wings and his arms became fully engulfed in the silvery feathers that threatened to bloom earlier. “Faster! We need to take off!” he shouted as he grabbed Yuuri’s hands. He was now flying and beginning to lift Yuuri up from the ground.

 

“AHHHHHH!!!” Yuuri screamed in protest. They finally left the ground behind, Yuuri kicking and screaming the entire way. 

 

All too soon the small entryway to the castle appeared. “Alright! You’re going in!”

 

Yuuri began to scream as he felt his hands being released. “No!! Don’t let go!” But it was all in vain. Viktor had let go and forced him to catapult into the closed door. Calcifer, bless him, must have sensed his descent for just as he was about to make contact with the door, it swung open and let him into the castle. Yuuri landed hard on the concrete steps, wincing at the harsh impact. 

 

The door wasn’t closed for five seconds when it slammed open again. This time, Yurio appeared from the courtyard. One look at the old man and Yurio panicked. “Yuuri? What happened?”

 

Yuuri didn’t answer. Instead he opted to shout to no one in particular. “Ugh! I’m too old to be treated like this!” With the help of Yurio he struggled to his feet and walked over to the couch to recover. “I swear, when Viktor get’s back he is dead.”

 

“It’s about time someone put him in his place,” Yurio replied with a smirk. “You sure you’re okay old man?”

 

“Yeah. I’ll be fine. Go back out there and play with Makka some more. You both need it.”

 

Yurio didn’t need to be told twice. He all but sprinted from the house and back out to play with the older dog.

 

Yuuri sighed and looked at Calcifer. He needed to figure out what was happening, and he needed to figure it out fast. Viktor didn’t have much time left.

 

At this rate, none of them did.

 


	9. A Town Ablaze

Once he had calmed himself down from the events of that day he went back into his new room to open all of the packages that Viktor had got for him. Each box held clothes that were much too fine for him. There were silk shirts, linen pants. There were jackets with rich embroidery. But even those were of understated colors. Viktor knew he wasn’t the flamboyant type and Yuuri appreciated the gesture.

 

He spent time trying each shirt and pant on. Unfortunately for him, he was now shorter as an old man. Giving a frustrated sigh he began to pin his garments to be fixed. Once he was done with that lengthy process he got to work. He made sure to put adjustments that could be let out for when he broke his curse. He would hate to lose all of the beautiful clothes Viktor purchased for him just because he finally broke with his inner demons.

 

Yuuri had a bad habit of getting lost in his work. At the hat shop he would often look out his window after finishing a hat to find that the sky had grown dark as the time passed. When he was cleaning the castle he accomplished what would take most a week in a day. Now he was drawn to that same old habit as he worked on his clothes. He didn’t realize it was night until a soft knock sounded on his door.

 

Yurio cracked the door open and peered into the room in his nightgown. “Uh. Goodnight Yuuri. I mean- old man,” the boy stuttered as a soft blush bloomed on his cheeks.

 

Yuuri smiled fondly back at the boy. “Goodnight Yurio.”

 

That seemed to be the end of it. Yuuri found it rather odd that Yurio would just poke in his head for that. But just as the door was about to close completely, Yurio opened it again and said, “Don’t worry about Viktor, Yuuri. Sometimes that idiot likes to go away for days on end.”

 

“Thank you. That’s good to know.” Yuuri nodded at the blond boy as he finally retreated up the stairs.

 

He figured he had holed himself in his room for long enough. With a sigh he put down his work and went into the living space to ensure that the old witch was settled for the night.

 

“Alright, need anything else?”

 

“No, I’m fine.”

 

He turned to leave the old woman to her rest. “Well, goodnight then.”

 

Just as he was about to draw the curtain around the bed for privacy, the witch stopped him with one simple statement. “You’re in love.” The curtain fell from his grasp as he turned back to look at her.  “Don’t deny it. You’ve been sighing all day.”

 

As if to prove her point, Yuuri sighed. He was still so worried about Viktor. Those ships seemed so deadly and he faced them head on. And in his condition… Yuuri walked back towards the bed and sank down on the edge. 

 

“Just as I thought.”

 

He paused a moment before looking back at the witch. “Have you ever been in love before?”

 

“Of course I have. I’m still in love.” Yuuri felt his eyes go wide as he looked at the woman starting to talk about her love. “Strapping young men are so difficult to deal with; but their hearts I just  _ adore. _ ”

 

Yuuri scoffed at the statement. He shouldn't’ have been surprised, but he was disgusted all the same. “You’re terrible.”

 

The witch, however, didn’t seem to care what he thought. She simply kept raving about them. “And they’re so cute too!”

 

Suddenly their conversation was interrupted by a siren wailing in the distance. Yuuri jumped up at the noise and walked towards the nearest window.“What’s that?”

 

“It’s an air raid siren,” the witch confirmed his fears.

 

“Air raid?”

 

“It’s a long ways off; but you better not go outside tonight dear. I’m sure Feltsman’s henchmen are looking everywhere for this place.” Yuuri, who was just about to peer out the curtain, dropped the offending fabric as if it was made of fire. The thought that one of that wretched man’s henchmen could be prowling outside the window sent chills up his spine.

 

The witch remained calm and simply looked at Calcifer from the distance.“What a good fire. He keeps this house so well hidden.”

 

Yuuri looked back at him with a sinking feeling in his stomach.  _ Oh please keep us safe. _ He worried as he looked at the fire.  _ Please. Bring Viktor home. _

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Not too far away from that small town the front line was quickly encroaching. What used to be rolling green pastures was now reduced to a red brown wasteland. The soil was colored with the dead plants and the blood of the fallen. Farm houses were reduced to useless piles of rubble. The innocent lives trapped beneath; their stories ended too quickly because of the pointless war.

 

Soldiers in blue marched steadily towards each other. They wove smoothly through the rubble and corpses. From where Viktor flew above, one could assume it was a winding river, not a force of men sent to do the elite’s bidding.

 

But Viktor couldn’t concern himself with those men. They were the least of his worries.

 

Instead he soared above. Giant bombers were buzzing in the sky. He needed to take them down without injuring himself and he needed to do it soon. For on the horizon was a small defenseless town.

 

The town that held his Yuuri.

 

He grit his teeth and furrowed his brow as he prepared to give everything. 

 

He would give his last breath for his love.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Later the next day Yuuri went back out to the field to collect some flowers. At least, that’s what he had told Yurio. In reality he was looking to see if there was any sign of Viktor. Unfortunately it looked as if the wizard was long gone; leaving only bloodied feathers in his wake.

 

Yuuri tried to shake off the feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach and instead focused on the task at hand: collecting flowers for the shop. As much as he wanted to worry about Viktor, he simply couldn’t afford to at the moment. If something were to happen to the man, someone needed to make sure that Yurio was taken care of. And so, Yuuri would pick flowers and run the shop; if not for Viktor, for Yurio. 

 

After about an hour of collecting he went back to the house with a full basket.

 

When he returned he began arranging the flowers in the shop. He had never tried floral work, but he assumed it couldn’t be too different from arranging ornaments on hats.

 

While he arranged the flowers he sent a grumpy Yurio out with a few simple singles to advertize their new shop.

 

However he wasn’t gone for two minutes before he came rushing back in towards the house where Yuuri was fetching water for the flowers.

 

“YUURI!” He shouted, panic written across his features. “There’s a strange lady in here!!”

 

When Yuuri looked up to see the “strange lady” in question he could swear he felt his heart stop. He felt a soft “Mother?” leave his lips right as the woman in question brightened up to see him.

 

“YUURI!!” She broke in a run towards her estranged son. They never had the most tactile relationship, but when she saw him again, she clinged to her son like he would disappear again.

 

“Mother,” he gasped with a smile and clinged to her clothes. He couldn’t help but breathe in her familiar scent. He had hated to leave her with no warning, but at the time he felt he had no choice. 

 

“Oh thank goodness you’re here Yuuri! I searched everywhere for you! How did you get so old?” The woman gave him no chance to respond; instead continuing to ramble on towards him. “I can’t help but feel like it was my fault you left. Can you ever forgive me?”

 

Yuuri was speechless. After everything he went through, he didn’t stop to think how much he missed his mom. “Mother,” was his only reply as he gripped her tighter.

 

After a few moments Yuuri brought his mother inside to see what had become of her old hat shop. “I love what you’ve done with the place,” she beamed as she took in her surroundings. As she looked around she noticed the old woman who was currently sleeping in front of Calcifer. “Is that the landlady? I’ve never met her.”

 

Yuuri simply stuttered in response. How could he explain that she was The Witch of the Wastes with her powers sapped from her body leaving her a husk of the person she was before. “Yes?” 

 

That seemed to be good enough for her as she was going onto the next thing. She turned around with excitement in her eyes and took both of Yuuri’s hands in hers. “Oh Yuuri! I married a man named Toshiya! He is so kind and he owns his own hot springs business! We can live together again!”

 

“That’s wonderful mother. I’m happy for you, really,” Yuuri responded with a genuinely happy smile. He never thought that his mother would find love after their father died. He was glad that she was able to find happiness. 

 

“So? Will you come with me?”

 

Yuuri was taken aback by the sudden question. He slipped his hands from his mother’s grasp as he replied slowly, “Actually mother… I quite like it here.”

 

“If you’re sure,” his mother responded. He could have sworn he saw something sad lingering in her eyes. But as quickly as it came, it was gone once again and replaced by an over animated face. “Oh! I have a car running outside! Yuuri dear, please take care of yourself. And know that you can always come home when you need to.”

 

Yuuri escorted his mother back to the street and into her car. He grasped her hands one last time. “I hope you and your new husband are happy.”

 

She gave them a gentle squeeze before releasing them.“Thank you, Yuuri. Goodbye!”

 

“Bye mother.” Yuuri felt a single tear he didn’t know he had been holding roll down his cheek as he watched the car fade into the crowd.

 

Come to think of it, the crowd he saw was behaving strangely. Everyone seemed to have suitcases or bags of some sort with them as they all exited the city. Anxiety fluttered in his stomach as he remembered the sirens from the night before. 

 

Up the steps a disguised Yurio stood waiting for him outside of their new shop. “Well! Look at all of them,” Yuuri commented as he stood besides the young boy. “If they keep leaving at this rate the town will soon be empty.”

 

In a small voice, Yurio whispered at Yuuri’s side, “Do you want to leave too Yuuri?”

 

“What?” He looked down at the boy in confusion.

 

“That weird lady said she wants you to live with her now.”

 

Yuuri couldn’t help but roll his eyes. He loved his mother, but she could be scatterbrained at times. And besides, she knew he was always an independent spirit. “Yes, well, at least she cared enough to visit.”

 

Suddenly the small boy latched himself to Yuuri’s waist, burying his face into his stomach.“Don’t leave Yuuri!” His speech was muffled by the fabric of Yuuri’s apron. “You suck less than Viktor. You have to stay.”

 

Yuuri looked down at the boy and clung to him just as tight. “I love you too Yurio. Don’t worry. I’ll stay.”

 

“Really!?” The blond looked up at him with sparkles in his eyes. But as quickly as his face had broken into that pure smile it returned to his customary scowl. Yurio detached himself from Yuuri’s side and fussed with his cloak in an attempt to look nonchalant.  “I mean… do what you want. I don’t care. But… You’re like family now… or whatever,” he finished with a shrug, gazing pointedly at the ground.

 

“Yes. We’re a family.”

 

Yuuri smiled at the soft blush that bloomed across Yurio’s features. The little boy cared a lot more than he would ever admit. “Yeah yeah old man.”

 

Once they were back inside the castle they were immediately hit by a putrid smell. Thick purple smoke hung lazily in the room. Yurio buried his face into his cloak to stifle the smell as Yuuri rapidly waived his hand around in a useless attempt to disperse the smoke. “Ugh! What th-” he stopped short when he spotted the source of the smoke.

 

The Witch of the Wastes was smoking the most disgusting smelling cigar he had ever smelled. The smoke hung in a heavy aura around her as she lounged in front of Calcifer.

 

Calcifer, who wasn’t lit.

 

Yuuri’s breath hitched up in panic. As he started to hyperventilate the smoke entered his unexpecting lungs and he launched into a violent coughing fit. “Old man, You okay?”

 

“I’m fine,” he panted, trying to recover his already short breath. “I need to get Calcifer going.”

 

Yurio didn’t seem to be fazed at all by the situation. Instead of worrying, he simply grabbed the morning paper from the table and settled in next to the old woman. Yuuri shook his head as the young boy sat with little to no struggles with his breath. How he could stand to be so near that smoke was a mystery to him.

 

Yuuri huffed out a breath in frustration as he grabbed the tools he needed to bring Calcifer back to light. He poked around the fire, trying to expose the fire source to more oxygen. He only got a weak flicker of embers in response. Giving up on that approach, he picked up the bellow and began to squeeze it in an attempt to get him more oxygen. This time, even more smoke billowed up and flooded the living space. Each puff made the embers burn brighter, but still, the fire never caught light.

 

While Yuuri fretted over Calcifer, Yurio and the old witch were talking about the contents of the newspaper. Yuuri tuned in halfway through their conversation, but he was able to gather what they were talking about.

 

“But the newspaper says we won,” Yurio retorted to the witch, obviously frustrated with her stubbornness.

 

“Only idiots believe what they read in the paper,” she drawled before taking another long drag from the cigar. 

 

Yuuri could only imagine how puffed up Yurio would be at the implication that he was an idiot; but at the moment he couldn’t bring himself to care. He was too anxious about the fire. Giving up for the moment he threw the bellow down and stood up straight. “That’s so strange. I can’t seem to get Calcifer going.” 

 

From behind him there was no response, only an increase of the putrid purple smoke. He snapped around and stared down the old hag. “Do you have to keep smoking that? It smells terrible!”

 

The witch simply inhaled the smoke once more. “Don’t deny an old witch her pleasures, young man.”

 

Tired of being brushed aside he turned his attention to the young blond at the witch’s side. “Yurio will you crack a window open please.” The boy nodded in agreement and bounded towards the window.

 

“I wouldn’t open that window if I were you dear,” the witch sighed with an all too relaxed expression.  “Calcifer’s too weak right now to protect this place. Feltsman’s henchmen could get in.”

 

But it was too late. The boy already had the window wide open. “Yurio!” Yuuri protested.

 

That was when it happened.

 

As Yuuri walked over to shut the window he could hear a whistling sound in the distance. 

 

The impact.

 

Everything stopped and sped up all at once.

 

As explosions sounded all around them plates crashed from the walls. Lamps fell. Furniture rattled. Yuuri struggled as he attempted to reach Yurio. He kept falling with each new impact that rattled the house. Somehow the bombs were missing their sanctuary, but they could still feel the impact of the explosions around them. “GET BACK!” Yuuri shoved the boy back from the window and slammed it shut. He tugged the curtain back into place as if that extra barrier would protect them from the burning chaos that raged outside.

 

Yuuri was in full on survival mode. There were several things he knew he needed to do in that moment. Number one: make sure Yurio and The Witch of the Waste were safe. Seeing that they were both still in the house he figured he could mark that one off comfortably. Number two: make sure that Viktor is safe. That, he had no control over. Number three: secure the shop.

 

Deciding to tackle the easiest, he rushed towards the door and ran out of the castle. He felt Yurio follow on his heels. Barely stopping he shouted back at the young boy, “Yuri. Get back inside. I’m going to check on the shop.” He had to trust that Yuri would follow his instructions. 

 

In the back of his mind he could feel that the curse had lifted. He couldn’t concentrate on the toxicity as he tried to save the ones he loved.Sprinting through the shop he ran out the front door to see the damage on the street.

 

While none of the buildings right next to theirs were in flames, the street was still painted in angry orange and red as buildings burned farther down. He looked up to see the bombers loom dangerously overhead. In the distance he heard people shouting in pain and fear. He could feel the rise of bile in the back of his throat as he thought of the ones who were suffering needlessly. All because a few royals couldn’t solve their own problems.

 

Speaking of royals, out of the corner of his eye, Yuuri could see slow figures approaching. Dozens of Feltsman’s henchmen were descending upon the shop. All of the sudden the bile in his chest was replaced by hot, boiling rage. Here were these… these  _ things.  _ These things that could help save the city. Instead they were trying to kill them. Yuuri couldn’t stop himself as he shouted, “THERE ARE BOMBS FALLING ON US! WHY CAN'T’ YOU PUT OUT SOME FIRES INSTEAD?” And he ran back into the shop, locking the door behind him. While he knew that wouldn’t stop them, it could give him the split second he needed to escape.

 

As he sprinted back towards the unstable sanctuary of the castle he heard glass breaking behind him. He tried not to panic or look back now that he knew they were hot on his tail.

 

On his way back to the castle he made one mistake: he looked up.

 

He stopped dead in his tracks as the world around him seemed to move in slow motion.

 

A bomber loomed overhead.

 

He was frozen as he made eye contact with the bomb that seemed to slowly descend upon him.

 

There was nothing he could do to stop it.

 

He backed up against the wall to brace for impact.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are reaching the end! Thank you for those who have been with me since the beginning of this adventure. This is my longest work to date and honestly what has helped me to write stories with a more original story line.
> 
> As always, you can find me at my tumblr! Same name as used here <3


	10. Taking Matters into Their Own Hands

Suddenly a silver figure clung to the bomb that was about to crush Yuuri. “VITYA NO!” he shouted, realizing too late that his love was about to stupidly give up his life.

 

He didn’t get to see if Viktor heard him. The bombs that had dropped all around the castle had finally made impact. Yuuri was pushed back against the wall by the impact of the sound and rubble being thrown against his body. He smelled the burning sulfur of the bombs. He felt the heat lick around his skin. He heard the breaking and crashing of windows coming from the shop and, more terrifyingly, the castle.

 

Yuuri blinked as he realized one stark detail. He was still alive. While chaos reigned around him, it was as if the epicenter had just missed him. He slowly looked up from where he had shielded his face. Embers and feathers floated in the air around him. Turning around he saw the bomb that had threatened to end his life had landed, intact, in their courtyard. Viktor was still clutching it; his wings still outstretched. Slowly he looked up to make eye contact with Yuuri. He had a pained smile on his face; but he was very much alive.

 

Yuuri stared in disbelief to see him still standing. “Vitya!” he cried as he stumbled over the rubble to fling himself at the wizard.  Viktor’s arms clinged back around him; tired but strong.

 

Viktor planted a gentle kiss in Yuuri’s hair. “I’m sorry, my Yuuri. I should have gotten here sooner.”

 

“You’re alive.” Yuuri’s shoulders began to tremble as he felt tears threaten to escape. “Oh thank goodness.”

 

Their intimate reunion was interrupted by the familiar squelching of Feltsman’s henchmen slowly crawling their way over to the couple. With a practiced grace Viktor swept Yuuri up into his arms and all but floated them towards the entrance of their home. With a flurry of feathers and fire the door burst open as Viktor rushed them inside and banished the tar figures from the door.

 

The sight that greeted them was unsettling to say the least. Every small piece of furniture was toppled over. There was glass and porcelain littering the living space. Calcifer’s embers were burning lower than ever. In the air hung a strange mixture of smoke: from Calcifer’s weakening flame, from the sickening cigar, and from the sulfuric smell of the bombs. 

 

Yuuri turned his attention to Yurio who was currently clinging to the old witch. He could see the telltale signs of tear tracks on his face. “Viktor! Yuuri! You’re okay!” The young boy cried as he wiped at the drying snot coming from his nose and ran to cling to Yuuri. He felt sadness choking him as he returned the young boy’s embrace. Yuri was just a boy. He was too young to be experiencing this horror.

 

“Calcifer! You hang in there now!” Viktor was encouraging the fire with his hand. As he spoke Calcifer rose. His fire was an unhealthy maroon as Viktor seemed to be pulling something from his flickering form. With a clench of his fist, a sparkling ball of black magic was pulled from the fire and Cal finally returned to his normal bright orange.

 

Seemingly satisfied with Calcifer’s state, Viktor quickly turned his attention back to The Witch of the Wastes. “Tell me. Was that cigar a gift from Sir Feltsman by any chance?”

 

In the background Calcifer whined at his master. “Viktor she fed me something gross. I feel sick.” In a show of dramatics he began to gag exaggeratedly. 

 

Viktor’s attention was still firmly on the witch as she puffed more of the putrid smoke into his face. “Why, if it isn’t Viktor. I think you and I need to have a nice, long, heart to heart chat,” she responded in lieu of a true answer. 

 

“There’s nothing I’d like more than that. But right now, there’s a war going on.” With a strained smile on his face, Viktor held out his hand for the old woman to snuff out her cigar on. Once the offending smoking object was taken care of, he turned back towards Yuuri.

 

“How unlike you Viktor. Not running away anymore,” the witch crooned at his back; trying in vain to hold his attention.

 

VIktor simply nodded over his shoulder. “Until later then.”

 

He glided over to where Yuuri was standing and gripped his shoulders gently with his silver feathered hands. “Stay here,” he ordered. “Calcifer will protect you from the henchmen. I’ll stand guard out front.” Without so much as a hug, he turned to leave them once more.

 

“No wait! Vitya! Don’t go out there,” he protested, running towards Viktor and attaching himself around his middle. He began to cry into his feathers. “It’s too dangerous.”

 

“Another wave’s coming. And Calcifer is too weak to stop the bombs.”

 

Yuuri shook his head furiously, feeling the tears fly off of his face. “Let’s run! Don’t fight them Viktor.”

 

“Sorry. I’ve had enough of running away Yuuri. And now I have something I want to protect.” He squeezed Yuuri’s hands tightly before prying them off of his body. “It’s you.”

 

Without even looking back, he flew out of the castle and was gone.

 

Yuuri only stood there for a second in shock before launching himself out the door in an attempt to bring back his love. But when he burst from the castle, not a feather could be seen. He began to panic and shouted at the sky; hoping Viktor could hear over the roar of the fires and the drone of the bombers. “COME BACK! VITYA I LOVE YOU!”

 

He stared at the sky as if just looking would bring him back. But he wasn’t a fool. He knew he was gone. The squelching of the henchmen brought Yuuri back to reality. They were trying to get back into the castle. They just wouldn’t give up.

 

Yuuri furrowed his brows and set his shoulders. If Viktor was going to be an idiot and protect them in his own way, then Yuuri was too. He quickly pivoted on his heels and stormed back into the castle, leaving the tar figures behind as he slammed the door shut.

 

Even though he knew Calcifer was protecting them, Yuuri still stood guard at the door; one hand on each knob. He stood there with a firm grip as he thought of his next move. With a look at the portal knob it finally came to him. He switched the portal over so that they were now in the wastes. 

 

Now, he wasn’t exactly sure how the magic of the castle worked. But he did know that if they stayed connected to the flower shop, Viktor would keep protecting it until he inevitably died. Yuuri knew he could be a bit dramatic, but he also knew that Viktor had stretched himself too far already. At this rate it wasn’t a question of if, but rather when.

 

He cracked the door open to see where they were in the wastes. Right now they were at the perfect cliff to see the burning town. Running out into the rain, Yuuri went to the  edge of the cliff to see if he could spot the shop or Viktor from where they were.

 

Sure enough, he saw the concentration of smoke coming from the middle of the town. “There’s where we are at the shop.”

 

Looking at the sky now, he tried to find Viktor.

 

Unfortunately he could see him all too clearly.

 

Atop the lone bomber that continued to soar above the town was a large mass. It didn’t look human. It was horrifying. It looked as if it was dismantling the bomber with its teeth. “Looks like Viktor’s in trouble.”

 

Suddenly the bomber burst into flames, engulfing the figure that was taking it down. “VITYA LOOK OUT!” Yuuri shouted in vain. At this distance they couldn’t do anything. Yuuri kept staring at the plane until it crashed into the horizon.

 

He was broken out of his thoughts as he heard Yurio shout behind him, “Yuuri! What’s going on? Oh hey Turnip.”

 

Whipping around, Yuuri saw the familiar scarecrow and got an idea. Rushing back towards the castle he shouted at Yurio, “Yuri I need your help.”

 

This idea was crazy. Insane. But it was the only thing they could do to save his Vitya. “Alright Cal. Here’s the deal. We have to move the castle.” Yuuri busied himself with preparing the old woman to move. He grabbed his old shawl and wrapped the woman in it securely. 

 

“Are you crazy!?” Calcifer protested as he followed Yuuri’s movements with his eyes. “I can’t move the portals without Viktor’s help!”

 

Yuuri was having none of it. He barked over his shoulder as he fussed with the shawl.“You have to try! If we don’t break away Viktor will keep protecting the hat shop.” He grabbed her hands as he mumbled, “I’d preferred him as a coward.” At least with him as a coward they would all be  _ safe. _

 

“Okay, we have to go now,” he gently urged the witch up from her place on the couch. The day had taken a toll on her and her more senile tendencies were showing through. If they weren’t already dealing with so much at that moment, Yuuri would have probably been worried at the sudden change. As it was rain was pouring, bombs were falling and he just didn’t have the brainpower to worry about one more thing that day.

 

“Are we going for a stroll?”

 

Calcifer continued to protest in vain. “We can’t do that! It will make us too vulnerable!” He shouted at Yuuri as if he was trying to make him see reason.

 

“We already are! And if we don’t move quick Viktor doesn’t stand a chance!”

 

“YUURI!” Suddenly Yurio had poked his head into the castle with panic strewn across his features. “THEY’RE ABOUT TO BOMB THE HAT SHOP!”

 

They had run out of time.“Quick! Help her get outside okay?” He handed off the witch to the young boy so he could run back to the fire. He grabbed the shovel Viktor had used earlier the day before and  brandished it at the fire. “You’re coming with us. Hold on.”

 

Calcifer tried to shirk away from the iron tool. “I can’t! It’s impossible! No one but Vitya can take me out of the hearth!”

 

“There’s no time to lose Calcifer, we have to try SOMETHING!” With that he shoved the shovel below the fire source and carefully walked him out of the castle.

 

“NOOOO! DON’T DO THIS!!” He continued to plead on deaf ears. “Help help help! Crazy man with a shovel!”

 

Finally, after much protest from Calcifer, they had reached the front door. Seeing that he had lost the battle Calcifer gave Yuuri one final warning. “If you take me out that door, the castle could COLLAPSE!”

 

“GOOD!” Yuuri felt his ponytail bristle. He was tired of arguing with the stupid fire. There was no time to think things through; they could only act.

 

“We’re ready,” Yurio confirmed as he poked his head back in one final time.

 

“Okay good. Step back.”

 

“Make sure I go out last, Yuuri. I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I’m sure it won’t be good.” Yuuri descended the steps and concentrated on not dropping the finicky fire. As he edged his way to the door Calcifer couldn’t help but give out soft whines in protest.

 

Yuuri edged himself out the door and slowly walked backwards towards the cliff. When Calcifer finally left the threshold of the house the strangest thing happened. While Yuuri had expected everything to simply collapse, something different happened. The interior of the castle seemed to warp out of existence, almost as if it were sucked right out of the castle and into oblivion. Once the image of the castle disappeared all of the beams and bricks that were holding the castle together began to fall on top of one another. They were all forced to scurry backwards from the castle as the exterior collapsed as well. GIant pipes and metal shells fell to the ground. Even after it all settled a last few bits of debris fell randomly until all was silent.

 

They all looked in shock at the former shell of their home. While Yuuri hadn’t lived there long, Viktor’s castle was the closest feeling to home he had since he was a little boy. But the fire demanded attention. “I TOLD YOU IT WOULD COLLAPSE!” It was raining outside and he let everyone know of his distressed state as he cowered as deeply into the shovel as he could. “Ahh! Rain! Rain!”

 

It seemed their luck had run out. As they were still stuck in thought with how to proceed a rumbling above them had brought their attention skyward. Another giant bomber was overhead.

 

“That ship’s headed for town!” Yurio cried in distress. Viktor had barely taken down the one bomber. There was no way he could tackle a fresh one as well.

 

They needed to keep moving. And fast.

 

“Yuri look after her okay?” Yuuri waited for Yurio’s nod before turning back towards the scarecrow. “Turnip Head help me find a way back in.”

 

“Don’t you worry old lady, I’ll take care of you,” he heard Yurio say as they made their way around the castle. Turnip bounced ahead. Not for the first time Yuuri thanked his lucky stars he had found such a good friend in that odd scarecrow. After only thirty seconds of looking, Turnip Head had bounced back towards him to bring him to the new entrance.

 

“Yuri, here’s a way in!” Yuuri shouted to signal the young boy. Turnip bounced back to grab the witch and brought them all into the castle quickly.

 

The inside was not ideal, but they could make it work. There was a surface they could use as a hearth, which was lucky. Putting the shovel down on the makeshift hearth Yuuri ran to go get wood. “Hold on for a second.”

 

“It’s wet here! Yuuri!”  _ I know I know, _ thought Yuuri.  _ But what other choice do we have.  _

 

He walked over to a large pile of wood. It looked as if it was an old staircase. He kicked a few pieces loose as Calcifer begged for more wood in the background. He quickly tossed the giant planks on top of the fire to placate him as he searched for better wood. Even Makka wanted to help, bringing smaller twigs over to the whining fire.

 

Yuuri found a stool and set it in front of the fire so they could keep the old woman warm. “Yurio hurry! Get inside!”

 

“The castle’s a wreck,” the boy complained as he carefully guided the witch to the stool.

 

“I  _ told _ you we should have stayed put! Viktor and I could have handled it.”

 

Yuuri ignored the fire’s complaints. Instead, he focused on the matter at hand. “We have to tell Viktor we’re not attached to the hat shop now. Move the castle and take us to Viktor.”

 

“ _ What?”  _ If it were possible, the fire would have blanched at his words. He was asking the impossible.

 

“I know you can do it,” Yuuri insisted slyly.  “I’ve never seen a fire with more spark.”

 

Calcifer picked up a stray twig and began to fiddle with it nervously. “But there- but there’s no chimney here. And I keep getting dripped on. And the wood’s all damp!”

 

Yuuri inched closer to him as he tried to encourage him.“They say that the best burn brightest when circumstances are at their worst.”

 

“Yeah but no one really believes that. Come on, let’s be honest,” he said with a roll of his eyes.

 

In the meantime Yurio had just settled the witch in the stool. “Oh what a pretty fire.” She repeated her words from the day prior as she gazed at Cal.

 

Yurio just rolled his eyes. “Sit down hag.”

 

“Alright,” the fire finally conceded. “I need something of yours Yuuri.”

 

“Why’s that?”

 

“I can't do it by myself,” he said simply as if that explained everything. “How about your eyes?”

 

“Huh?” Yuuri shook his head. He couldn’t just live without his eyes. Instead he grabbed at his ponytail in offering. “How about this?”

 

Calcifer simply replied by grabbing it immediately with his fiery hands. Yuuri gasped as the back of his neck was slightly burned. Calcifer ate the hair as if it were another twig. Once he finished it he turned from orange to black, as if he was taking on Yuuri’s hair color. He got smaller and smaller. Yuuri leaned forward in concern. He didn’t think the fire would have such an adverse reaction.

 

Just as Yuui was about to launch into a full blown panic Calcifer blazed brighter than ever. His fire took up the entire hearth and reached up to the ceiling. The force of it blew them all back as Calcifer took on this new form. He grunted in effort as he pushed up at the ceiling in an attempt to get the castle to move. 

 

Everything around them shook. Yuuri could feel all of the excess parts of the castle fall away as the fire struggled to move the castle. They were all stricken in awe as the demon finally flourished his full power.

 

Finally the castle rose and almost everything fell away until all that was left was their small space running away on two spindly metal legs.

 

In the process a portion of the floor had fallen out, giving them a clear view of the ground, and subsequently, Turnip Head below. Yuuri rushed to the hole to keep an eye on their movement.

 

They had done it. They had moved the castle.

 

Yuuri shouted in glee over his shoulder at the blazing fire. “Thank’s Calcifer! You’re fantastic!”

 

Calcifer blazed up with pride. “Imagine what I could have done with your eyes! Or your  _ heart!” _

 

“That’s it!”The witch suddenly shouted as she lunged forward and grabbed for the shovel. “You’ve got Viktor’s heart! I’ve found it!”

 

Yuuri was too focused on the events happening with Viktor to pay the exchange any mind. “I can see Viktor down there! Looks like he’s trapped!” Yuuri turned back to the fire with panic finally setting in. “Calcifer hurry!!” He gasped as he saw the scene that was unfolding behind him.

 

“NOOOO,” Calcifer shrieked as he was forcibly pulled from the hearth.

 

Yuuri sprung into action. He immediately jumped up and began to fight the witch.“PUT HIM BACK!” He screamed as he struggled to force the woman to drop the heart. “LET GO!”

 

But it was too late. The Witch of the Wastes now held Viktor’s heart in her hands, stifling the fire. Still, she couldn’t help but shout in glee. “Viktor’s heart! It’s mine!”

 

The platform destabilized as Calcifer struggled to maintain control. He blazed up fully in self defence as he tried to keep everything together. The only thing he could do was to accept the witch’s offering by burning her whole.

 

Yuuri continued to plead with the witch. He tried to pry the heart from her vice like grip.“PUT HIM BACK NOW!”

 

But at this point the witch could hear him no longer. Only the fire roared in her ears as it engulfed her. “IT’S HOT! OH IT’S BURNING ME!!”

 

“LET GO! YOU’RE CATCHING ON FIRE!”

 

“NO IT’S MINE!”

 

Yuuri tried and tried to pry it away. But she was dying. The fire was eating her. He was forced to do the only thing he could do.

 

He grabbed a bucket of water that was there from the rain and dumped it on her.

 

It extinguished the fire.

 

It extinguished Calcifer.

 

Yuuri stood there panting and shell shocked at what he had just done. He had doused Calcifer. He had doused Viktor’s heart. Viktor was dead. He had to be.

 

He didn’t get too long to think on it. Without the magic of Calcifer there to hold their meager shelter together or upright, a fissure was created in the middle of the platform. The platform fell in half. One part holding Yurio, the witch, Turnip Head and what remained of Calcifer. The other Yuuri and Makkachin.

 

Without the meager power of Calcifer to hold his half upright, Yuuri and Makka tumbled down the cliff with their half and descended into the deep valley below.

 

“YUURIII!” Was the last thing he heard as they tumbled from the upright platform.

 

Yuuri screamed as he fell to what was sure to be his death.

 

His luck had run out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one more chapter!!!
> 
> In regards to this being a series, I still plan to do that, but I am going to step away from this work for a while after it is completed. I have too many unfinished projects for my liking and I want to make sure I can give the sequel all of the attention it deserves <3
> 
> Thank you all for reading and I'll see y'all next week <3


	11. Death of a Demon, Birth of a Child

When Yuuri came to he was at the bottom of the valley surrounded by the rubble of the castle. For a moment he was grateful the curse had passed. If he were an old man still he would surely be dead.

 

But he couldn’t find comfort in that thought. Viktor was dead. Calcifer was dead. He killed them. He sat there in shock as he absorbed it all.

 

How could he be so  _ stupid? _ He should have let the witch burn. Instead he saved her and killed the love of his life in the process. His breath started to come up in quick pants and unshed tears flooded his eyes.

 

From his side he heard shuffling from the rubble as Makkachin dislodged himself from the rubble and walked up to the distressed human. Yuuri turned slowly towards the old dog as he faced his own bitter reality.

 

“Makka. What have I done? I poured water on Calcifer,” he sobbed as he finally let the tears flow freely. It  _ hurt.  _ Everything  _ hurt. So much. _

 

Finally he expressed his true fear out loud. “What if I killed Vitya too?” He sobbed into his hands as he grieved the loss.

 

It didn’t matter what he did. He would always fail. He wasn’t pretty enough to be loved, so he was alone for most of his life. He ran into the wrong person and was turned into an old woman. He crashed a plane and ruined the castle. His best friend Phichit was probably dead from the bombings and he never knew what happened to Yuuri. He detached the castle from the hat shop which forced him to out Calcifer as Viktor’s heart. He killed them. He killed them. He killed them.

 

He was pulled from his downward spiral as Makka barked at him and nudged at his hands. Looking up, he saw the ring that Viktor had given him trembling on his finger. The stone was now a cold blue instead of the warm red, but the movement gave Yuuri hope.

 

“It’s moving,” he whispered, gripping his hand. “Is Viktor still alive? Can you lead me to him?” He pleaded with the inanimate object.

 

At his cries a beam sluggishly bubbled up out of the stone until it pointed with a weak laser towards a piece of scrap metal. Yuuri scrambled to his feet and shoved the object out of the way to reveal the door. The portal door. Somehow, he knew what he had to do. He turned the knob to the black and creaked it open. The beam flickered up again and urged him to continue into the darkness. 

 

Gritting his teeth, Yuuri stuck a hesitant hand through the blackness and continued through the portal. He felt the dog follow at his heels as the door snapped shut behind them of its own accord.

 

Yuuri walked forward without a sense of direction. Each step felt so light as he walked. After a few minutes of walking in the nothingness he could see a room come into view. He picked up his pace and ran towards the room. But his run was almost in slow motion, as the darkness held him back. 

 

Finally he broke into the room. The only light source in the room came from the moon that streamed in through the window. The room was simple. There was a small bed against one wall. A small hearth with a cold Kettle set upon it. In the middle of the room stood a lone desk that was cluttered with all sorts of books and papers. Yuuri walked up to it and recognized the familiar scrawl across the desk. “This must be Viktor’s cabin,” he realized.

 

Giving another look at the ring for help, he noticed it showed no beam. He had arrived.

 

Makkachin scratched at the door, as if he sensed something on the other side. “Makka?”

 

Yuuri opened the offending door and his suspicions were confirmed. Outside lay the meadow that Viktor had given him. Only now the flowers were few. 

 

When he walked outside he saw flashes in the sky. He started as he thought they were bombs. Upon further investigation, he realized they weren’t bombs at all; they were shooting stars. He stared in wonder as the nature made fireworks fell from the sky.

 

The sparks danced as they hit the ground. They skipped for a few seconds until they were extinguished forever. It was a beautifully sad existence. 

 

He was drawn from the spectacle by a pain that radiated around his finger. Looking down, the band had withered away and was barely there. He was running out of time. 

 

By the light of the falling stars Yuuri saw a figure in the distance walking through the field. Being that this was the only development he had to go on, he rushed forward, struggling as his boots sunk into the  mud. 

 

As he got closer he realized who the person was. It was Viktor. Only now he was just a child. “That’s Vitya,” he gasped as he struggled to reach the boy. 

 

Upon seeing the boy amongst the falling stars, he was brought back to the star figures that had almost killed them in Feltsman’s palace. “I know where I am!” He panted as he ran. “I’m in Viktor’s childhood!”

 

He struggled in the mud as it threatened to swallow him whole. He stumbled back as he dislodged himself.

 

Suddenly, the brightest star fell from the sky. This time, instead of skipping and dying out like all of the ones that fell before it, this one fell straight into Viktor’s awaiting hands. Yuuri watched in awe as the exchange took place meters ahead of him. He couldn’t reach him in time.

 

As he stared he could see the boy talk to the flowers. After a few words were exchanged, he brought the fire up to his mouth and swallowed it whole. He doubled over in pain as he coughed, clutching at his chest.

 

When he pulled them away a small fluttering Calcifer was resting in his hands.

 

Yuuri could feel the pieces coming together in his mind as he witnessed the scene. But his time was up.

 

The ring on his finger snapped, as did the spell that was keeping him in this memory. A large gaping hole appeared under his feet as the spell died.

 

_ No no no no! I have to tell them. _ Yuuri shouted out to the boy, “VITYA! CALCIFER! IT’S ME, YUURI!I KNOW HOW TO HELP YOU NOW!” He reached out his arm as if that alone would bring him to the boy. “FIND ME IN THE FUTURE!” And the circle swallowed him whole.

 

He kept falling and falling until he reached the bottom of the portal. Once he and Makka had gained their footing, the worked on finding the doorway. Yuuri lagged behind as tears streamed down his face. Makka huffed back at him in annoyance. “I’m sorry, Makka. I’m trying. I just can’t seem to stop crying.”

 

Finally they had reached the door which had opened as they approached. As they exited the portal it vanished for good, as if it had only stuck around to lead him to that final destination.

 

But Yuuri couldn’t pay that any mind now.

 

There he was: Viktor. He was now a gigantic bird. His breath rattled in pain with each inhale and exhale. As he walked up to him, Yuuri could see blood dripping from his head. “Vitya,” he breathed as he reached up to touch him. Feathers fully surrounded his face. Yuuri had to part them to get to the human face underneath. He tried not to panic as he saw the blood that had caked on his face. 

 

His heart broke as he saw Viktor’s face. He looked to be a shell of the man he once was. His face was totally devoid of emotion. His eyes were glazed over and focussed. Even though he had parted the feathers, it looked as though Viktor couldn’t even tell Yuuri was there.  “Oh Vitya. I’m sorry. Did I come too late? I didn’t mean to make you wait this long.” He felt more tears leave his eyes as he leaned in to kiss his unresponsive lips. “I need you to take me to Calcifer if you can.”

 

Viktor creaked up to a standing position. He only had one leg now that Yuuri and Makka. clung to as they took off. His neck stretched out and more blood poured down as he took off. His large wingspan made giant whooshing sounds as he flew.

 

The sun began to rise as they flew to the top of the mountains to search for the wandering platform. After about twenty minutes of flying they finally spotted it. The platform was still creaking along slowly as Calcifer’s power died out. He gave Viktor’s leg a gentle squeeze as they descended.

 

Once they touched down Viktor immediately collapsed. Finally spent after all that had happened that night. The feathers flew away from his limp human form. While Yuuri was worried that he was unresponsive, he was glad that he had enough magic left in him to change back at least. He rushed over to his side and gently turned him over so that he was lying comfortably on his back.

 

Yuuri took Viktor’s face in his hands as Yurio rushed up to their side. “He’s dead?” he gasped with a wobble of tears present in his voice.

 

“No Yuri,” Yuuri shook his head to squash his fears. Leaving Viktor’s side, Yuuri turned to face the witch who still had a firm grip on Viktor’s heart.

 

The woman in question was cowering on the opposite side of the platform. Upon seeing him approach she shrunk in on herself in an attempt to hide the heart from him. Yuuri simply kneeled next to her with an outstretched hand. “Viktor needs that back now.”

 

“Don’t look at me, I don’t have it! I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

 

At her denial, Yuuri hugged her tightly. “Please,” he implored. “Please give it back.”

 

“You really want it that badly?” The witch mumbled into his shoulder.

 

“Yes.”

 

The old woman sighed. “Alright then. You better take good care of it.” She gently deposited the heart into Yuuri’s cupped palms. “Here dear.”

 

“Thank you. You have a big heart,” he whispered before giving her a kiss on the cheek. 

 

Yuuri walked back over to where Viktor was passed out and kneeled at his side. “Calcifer.”

 

The tired blue fire turned its gaze up to the Japanese man who held him. “Yuuri. I’m so tired,” he croaked as his eyes fluttered shut.

 

Yuuri worried his lip with his teeth as he looked between the fire and the wizard. “If I give Viktor back his heart, what will happen to you?”

 

Calcifer hesitated a moment as he considered the outcomes. “I’ll be okay if you do it… I think. I mean, you dumped water on me and Vitya and I both survived.”

 

“I better try then.” Yuuri closed his eyes and held the heart close to his chest. He concentrated on how it felt in his hands. “It’s so warm. And fluttering like a bird.”

 

Calcifer looked up at him and smiled. “It’s still just the heart of a child.”

 

Yuuri whispered over the heart and the body in a hushed prayer to whatever entity might be listening. “Please. Help Calcifer live. And please help Vitya take back his heart.” Slowly, gently, Yuuri lowered the child’s heart on Viktor’s chest and pressed it in until it submerged completely into the body. 

 

Once the heart was safely seated in Viktor’s body, a bright rainbow colored light burst from his chest. Calcifer had survived, and he had more life than ever. “I’m alive! I’m alive and I’m free, free, FREE!! Ahahaha!” He continued to laugh and shout as he disappeared into the horizon.

 

Viktor gasped as the heart entered, full life entering his body once more. “He moved!” the blond boy cried. 

 

Their joy was short lived. As soon as Calcifer left the platform, it began to collapse from underneath them. Yurio confirmed their fear as he shouted, “It can’t stand without Calcifer!”

 

The wood platform fell from the two metal feet that originally held it up. It teetered and wavered for a moment on the precipice of the mountain, until finally it gave in and careened down towards the valley below. 

 

They screamed as they braced themselves for impact. Yuuri clung to Viktor so his still limp body didn’t fly off. They were gaining speed. At this rate, none of them would survive.

 

That was when Turnip Head, the ever faithful scarecrow, jumped in front of the platform to slow its descent. “TURNIP!!” Yuuri shouted as the scarecrow sacrificed himself. His pole wore away as they continued down the hill.

 

When they finally came to a stop thanks to a rock the impact snapped the pole that was at the core of the scarecrow as he flopped down onto the now still platform.

 

Yuuri scrambled towards Turnip’s limp form. Never had he seen him so lifeless. He started to ramble at him in a panic. “His pole snapped! Are you alright? We’ll get you a new pole, okay?” He rested his head atop Turnip’s. “You saved us Turnip,” he whispered as he kissed his painted on mouth.

 

Once his lips left the turnip head, the entire scarecrow began to tremble and shake until it sprang right out of Yuuri’s grip. Turnip Head spun and twirled in the air. With a flash of light, the black suited scarecrow transformed right before their very eyes. A grown man’s body grew from where he floated. His suit turning from black to cream. His head turning from a turnip into that of an attractive man. His head sprouted a two toned blonde and brown crop of hair and on his face grew a subtle goatee. They all gaped at the man. His striking hazel eyes pierced right through Yuuri.  “Thank you, Yuuri,” the man bowed with a sweep of his white top hat. “I’m Prince Christophe Giacometti; the prince who’s been missing from the neighboring kingdom. Somehow I got that blasted spell put on me.”

 

The Witch of the Wastes clasped her hands together in glee as she looked at the prince. “I know that spell! A kiss from your true love breaks it!”

 

“That’s right! If it weren’t for Yuuri I would’ve been stuck as a scarecrow for the rest of my life.”

 

While the prince and the witch continued to converse, Yuuri turned his attention back to the wizard. Viktor was just starting to come to after receiving his heart successfully. “Ugh. What’s going on? What am I doing here? AHH!” He gasped in pain as he tried to sit up. Yuuri tried not to fret at the obvious pain his lover was in. “I feel terrible! Like there’s a weight on my chest!”

 

Yuuri couldn’t help but smile as he let the cheesy line slip through his lips. “A heart’s a heavy burden.”

 

Viktor, however, was too busy running his long fingers through Yuuri’s newly cropped hair. Now that the spell was lifted his hair was frozen in a state of arrested development. His hair was black, but it still had some random specks of grey left over from the curse. “Wow! Yuuri! You’re hair looks just like the night sky! It’s beautiful.”

 

He gasped as he looked down at this ridiculous man. “You think so?” When Viktor nodded in response Yuuri tackled him to the ground, making him give out a grunt of pain. “So do I!”

 

While Viktor and Yuuri were fussing over each other, the witch and the prince turned their attention to the two lovers.

 

“Looks like your true love is in love with someone else. You should go home anyway and tell your king to stop this dumb war.”

 

Chris nodded in agreement. “That’s exactly what I’ll do.” With a glint of mischief in his eyes he continued on. “One thing you can always count on is hearts change. So as soon as this war is over, I shall return for my heart.”

 

The witch winked at the young man.“I love it when you talk like that. I look forward to your return, big boy.”

 

Yurio decided that he had been ignored for long enough. “Hey idiots. Shouldn’t we think about getting off of this unstable platform?”

 

“Ahh yes,” Yuuri replied, helping Viktor stand. “We should probably do that.”

 

While Yuuri, Viktor and Yurio were confident that they could get themselves and the old dog up the mountain side to a stable place, they weren’t quite sure how to get the old woman up. None of them were really in the shape to carry her up a mountain.

 

“Not to worry, dear friends,” Chris laughed as he put his hand in his hat. “I’ve got it taken care of. Why do you think they turned me into a scarecrow?” With a flourish of his hand, he produced a long staff from his hat. The hat had the same magical quality to it that allowed its user to pick up others on it’s body.

 

Once they were all settled at the top of the cliff the prince bid them one last farewell. “Are you sure I can’t convince you to run away into the morning sun with me, my dear Yuuri?”

 

“Not this time, Chris. But please, feel free to visit us whenever you can! I’m going to miss my scarecrow, even if he was my least favorite vegetable.” 

 

“Then I shall bid you adieu, my dear! Until we meet again!” With a final flourish of his hat, the prince descended down the mountainside and back towards his kingdom. Finally there would be an end to the world’s silliest war.

 

They stood in a pleasant silence for a while as they watched their unlikely friend leave. Yuuri couldn’t help but feel a pang in his heart. He had to say goodbye to two good friends today and he still wasn’t sure how he felt about it.

 

Just as he was about to tell Viktor how he was feeling, a small bright light rapidly approached the small group. 

 

“Hey! It’s Calcifer!” Shouted Yurio, pointing at the dancing star.

 

He kept buzzing around Yuuri’s head until he cupped his hands to hold the feisty spirit. “You didn’t have to come back, Calcifer,” Viktor laughed as Calcifer continued his flamboyant display.

 

Once he settled into Yuuri’s palms he popped back into his flame form. “I kinda missed you guys. And it looks like it’s gonna rain.”

 

“I missed you too Calcifer.” Yuuri smiled and gave the fire a short peck on the cheek. His lips tingled where the fire touched. Calcifer turned a bright pink, as if he was blushing with his entire body.

 

Yuuri looked at his family around him and couldn’t help but smile.

 

Maybe there was such a thing as happily ever after.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here we are. The final chapter.
> 
> Thank you everyone who has commented or kudosed this story and for everyone who has read it. This was my first big fanfic idea and I hope I did the story justice.
> 
> I am going to let this series rest for a while. I think writing it so intensively sort of burnt me out. That being said, I am happy for what nanowrimo forced me to do, even if I might not do it again. It has helped me to be a better writer and has taught me how to write fast.
> 
> I am currently working on an agoraphobia au for Yuri on ice, so feel free to check that out if it sounds interesting to you!
> 
> Until next time, you can always catch me on bluetrekskates.tumblr.com or my personal at megisnotarobot.tumblr.com
> 
> Thank you all again <3

**Author's Note:**

> HEY Y'ALL!! I'M BACK AND WITH A COMPLETELY NEW GENRE!!!!
> 
> I've been planning this au for a long time and nanowrimo finally gave me the courage to post it. 
> 
> I'm really excited for everyone to read this! It's complete! I'm going to update once a week to give myself a little bit of a break and so that I can edit while I go.
> 
> As always you can find me at bluetrekskates.tumblr.com for updates on my writing and such! Or just come by to say hi!!! <3


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